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| Middle East |
| Time to Make Decision in Fatah-Hamas Dialogue |
| 2003-03-04 |
| Palestinian Minister of Interior Hani Al-Hasan said it is high time to reach a decision in the dialogue between Fatah and Hamas because this dialogue cannot go on forever and confirmed that he is going to contact Egypt's chief of intelligence Omar Sulaiman shortly for this purpose. It has become evident that Hamas was unable to commit to the Egyptian proposal due to internal reasons, Al-Hasan said in an interview published by the Palestinian daily Al-Quds on Sunday. Hamas has reached the point where Fatah's weakened enough that it thinks it can take over... "Egypt sponsored inter-Palestinian talks in Cairo recently and proposed a one-year truce between Palestinians and Israelis. These talks were supposed to resume in February but the Israeli military escalation and ongoing extra-judicial killings of suspected Palestinian activists have rendered the resumption of talks impossible. The dialogue between Fatah and Hamas movements has reached a point where a decision should be made. It is not permissible to go on with it forever, though we acknowledge that Hamas has its own considerations." Like supplanting Fatah... Al-Hasan confirmed that "the Palestinian people and leadership are standing at a decisive crossroad, and therefore we have to act correctly in the next three months to outlive the crisis, by the declaration of the Palestinian state and the withdrawal of Israel." Al-Hasan voiced similar determination to seek unity inside Fatah. "The brothers in the Al-Aqsa Brigades promised me they will be committed not to attack civilians inside the Green Line," he said adding that "nothing in our Arab and Islamic heritage allows killing of civilians." "We just... do it, y'know?" |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |