| Submit your comments on this article |
| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Abbas renews threats against Hamas |
| 2006-11-03 |
| Mahmoud Abbas is inclined to seek new elections if talks with Hamas militants on forming a moderate government do not produce results in about two weeks, a top aide to the PA chairman said. Abbas has been trying to end a punishing aid cutoff by setting up a government acceptable to the West, either in a power-sharing arrangement between Hamas and his Fatah movement, or by appointing independent technocrats. However, Hamas has balked at demands that it recognize Israel, and no solution to the deadlock has emerged. Independent legislator Mustafa Barghouti, who has been shuttling between the two sides, said Thursday that an agreement on a new government is close, but he would not disclose details. "We have made good progress. We are almost there," Barghouti said after meeting with Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas. Barghouti later met Abbas to brief him on his five hours of talks with Haniyeh and told reporters the two men had also spoken directly by phone. He said tentative agreement has been reached on a political program acceptable to the West. However, negotiations have broken down in the past, despite upbeat forecasts. The head of Abbas' office, Rafiq Husseini, said the Palestinian leader still hopes to reach a solution. But if negotiations fail, Abbas "feels instinctively that the best thing for him to do is to go back to his people," meaning a new election, Husseini said in an interview at the presidential headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Under the Palestinians' Basic Law, Abbas cannot call an early election. However, he could try to get around that by holding a referendum on early elections. Hamas was elected in parliament elections in January, and the next vote is not due for another three years. Abbas was elected separately in 2005. |
| Posted by:Fred |