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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hamas sez "Time's up!" for Abu Mazen
2008-10-08
"The legal term of president Abbas ends on January 8 and Abu Mazen (Abbas) will not remain president for a single minute after this date," Hamas parliamentary leader Ahmed Bahar told AFP.
Hamas members of parliament said on Monday that they will not recognise Mahmud Abbas as president after January 8, a move that could sharpen the internal divisions plaguing the Palestinians.
Could?
"The legal term of president Abbas ends on January 8 and Abu Mazen (Abbas) will not remain president for a single minute after this date," Hamas parliamentary leader Ahmed Bahar told AFP. "On October 8, president Abbas must order the Central Committee for Elections to prepare for the next presidential election, which must take place on January 9," he added, following a meeting of the Hamas parliamentary bloc.

The Islamist movement has had no contacts with Abbas since it drove his forces from Gaza in a week of bloody fighting in June 2007 but the movement still recognises him as the head of the Palestinian Authority. When asked if Hamas would put forward a candidate to stand against Abbas, Bahar said: "All possibilities are under discussion." Hamas won parliamentary elections in 2006 but has never fielded a presidential candidate.

The Palestinian constitution says presidential elections must be held every four years, which Hamas interprets to mean that Abbas's term expires in 2009, since he was elected in January 2005. Under their interpretation, if Abbas does not step down, the speaker of parliament, Hamas MP Aziz Dweik, would become acting president. Since Dweik is currently in an Israeli jail,
Heh.
Bahar would serve in his place.

Abbas's supporters however cite a different provision of the constitution which says that presidential and parliamentary elections should be held together, which would extend Abbas's term to January 2010.

Bahar said Palestinian politics was entering a bloody "difficult" period but expressed hope that there would be ponies for everyone reconciliation between Hamas and Abbas's Fatah party, which have been bitterly divided since the Gaza takeover. Representatives from the two main Palestinian factions are due to meet in Cairo on November 4 to try to agree on a national unity government.

The current 120-member Palestinian parliament includes 74 Hamas MPs, 30 of whom are in Israeli custody. Israel and the West have in the past boycotted every Palestinian government that included Hamas, which they blacklist as a terrorist organisation.
But what do they know.
Posted by:Seafarious

#2  This calls for Dire Revenge!!!
Posted by: ed   2008-10-08 07:42  

#1  i appreciate the warning...

note to self: stock up on popcorn
Posted by: Abu do you love   2008-10-08 01:01  

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