Threatening a possible referendum if Hamas does not agree to a
proposal on making peace with Israel, Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas was in a fresh round of tryout to press Hamas to change its
political stance, analysts said.
"The prisoners' document was like the rescue ribbon for Abbas to
extend the pressure on Hamas government," Nafez al-Madhoun, an
academic close to Abbas' Fatah movement, said on Monday.
"Do you know what it means if a referendum is held in the
Palestinian territories?" asked Madhoun.
"It means an early election."
At a national dialogue meeting on May 25, Abbas announced that
he would order a referendum within 40 days if factions including
Hamas within 10 days fail to agree to the National Accordance, a
proposal that implicitly accepts Israel's right to exist.
The proposal, made by Palestinian prisoners in an Israeli jail
earlier this month, calls for the establishment of an independent
Palestinian state on the territories occupied by Israel since the
1967 Middle East war, including the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and
Arab East Jerusalem.
Hamas has been committed to Israel's destruction since it
emerged some 20 years ago. It refuses to change its political
charter even after the militant faction controled the Palestinian
parliament and government, ending long dominance by Fatah, which is
currently led by Abbas.
Since Hamas formed its government in late March, disputes
between the government and the President never cease, with armed
clashes erupted in the Gaza Strip between rival militants
affiliated to Hamas and Fatah respectively.
Abbas, who repeatedly calls on Hamas to moderate its stance
toward Israel in order to push the long stalled peace process, is
pressing Hamas to decide "either to accept Abbas' conditions and
agree to the prisoners' document or to face a referendum," said
Madhoun.
"Abbas is a very smart leader. He was the most enthusiastic
Palestinian to hold the January election on time, although he knew
that his weak Fatah movement might be defeated in the election,"
Madhoun continued.
"But Abbas would never leave the situation like this until he
tames Hamas movement," said the academic, referring to the idea of
holding referendum.
After Hamas won the parliamentary election on Jan. 25 and thus
was given the mandate to form a new government, Abbas has been
trying to persuade Hamas to respect all the previous commitments
made by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), including those
signed with Israel.
As Hamas is a group advocating Israel's destruction, Abbas
skipped the idea of persuading Hamas to recognize Israel, turning
to press Hamas to accept the Arab peace initiative agreed on the
Arab Summit held in Lebanon in 2002.
However, contrary to Abbas' wishes, Hamas insisted that it would
neither recognize the state of Israel nor accept previous
commitments.
Hamas' hardline policy incurred anger of Israel and
dissatisfaction of donor countries, mainly the United States and
the European Union (EU), which cut off badly needed aids to the PNA
and adopted isolation policy towards the Hamas-led government.
Israel also severed all contacts with Hamas government and
tightened its security measures on passages and crossings in the
Palestinian territories.
Cutting off direct aid disabled the Hamas government to pay
overdue salaries for some 160,000 government servants ever since
March.
Despite the dual plights in political and economic fronts, the
Hamas government did not lose the support of the Palestinians and
showed little sign of flexibility in its political stance.
"Abbas, Israel, the United States and the donors are still
unable to break the steadfastness of the new government," said
Riyad Abu Jalhoom, a Palestinian academic from Gaza.
"Instead of weakening this government, they (Abbas, Israel and
the international community) are popularly strengthening it," said
Abu Jalhoom.
Meanwhile, Abu Jalhoom believed that the Hamas government should
find a way out of the crisis from which the Palestinians who voted
in favor of Hamas in the election are suffering.
The proposal, which was submitted by imprisoned leaders of
national and Islamic Palestinian factions, mainly Fatah Secretary
General Marwah Barghouti and senior Hamas leader Abdel Majid al-
Natsheh, came as a bid to end the crisis facing the
Palestinians.
The proposal also accepts the Arab peace initiative of 2002 and
calls for forming a coalition government on the base of recognition
of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the sole and
legitimate representative of the Palestinians.
In response to the referendum call, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu
Zuhri in Gaza told Xinhua on telephone that the referendum still
needs a legal cover, as the president is not authorized by the law
to order referendum.
"Any referendum means turning down the legitimacy and results of
January election," Abu Zuhri added.
The latest polls conducted in the West Bank showed that 80
percent among the Palestinians would vote for the two states
solution, which is based on honoring the Arab peace initiative and
recognizing the PLO as the sole representative of the
Palestinians.
In order to avoid holding such a referendum, Hamas leaders has
asserted that they are likely to accept 90 percent of the document
and leaving the rest to be resolved through dialogue.
(Xinhua News Agency May 30, 2006)
