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| Thousands march in anti-Abbas protests in Gaza | ||
| 2011-01-27 | ||
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Thousands of cheering Hamas supporters in Gaza on Wednesday burned effigies of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his senior aides in the rival Palestinian leadership in the West Bank, denouncing them as traitors.
A coffin draped with the photos of Abbas, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and chief negotiator Saeb Erekat also went up in flames during the march in the southern town of Rafah in Hamas-ruled Gaza. Abbas has said heÂ’s been the victim of a smear campaign and Al-Jazeera is distorting his positions.
Abbas’ term expired a year ago but he has not scheduled elections because Hamas is in control of Gaza and has said it would not cooperate. Also, Hamas won the last parliamentary elections in 2006, but Abbas dismissed the Hamas-led government after Hamas overran Gaza. On Wednesday, several thousand marched in Rafah and the nearby town of Khan Younis. In the Rafah march, Atallah Abu al-Suboh, a local Hamas leader, spoke to the crowd before the effigies, draped with Israeli flags, and the coffin were set ablaze. “Those gangs,” he said, pointing to the coffin, are not representing the Palestinian people.” “Palestinians all over should take them away,” al-Suboh said. “No one has the right to compromise. No one has the right to give up our legitimate rights and principles.” | ||
| Posted by:Steve White |