RAMALLAH, West Bank, 16 November 2007 — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday urged the people of Gaza to oust his Islamist rivals who seized control of the territory in June, as he seeks a lasting peace with Israel.
“We must get rid of this clique that took control of the Gaza Strip by force and which is exploiting the suffering and tragedies of our people,” he said in a televised speech from his Ramallah office to mark the 19th anniversary of the symbolic declaration of a Palestinian state.
Hamas routed secular Fatah forces loyal to Abbas in mid-June after a week of deadly violence in Gaza, resulting in the fall of the Hamas-led unity government and a new Western-backed government being formed in the West Bank.
The feuding has split the Palestinians into two separate entities, with Hamas ruling the roost in Gaza and Abbas’ Palestinian Authority administering over parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Abbas denounced what he called “criminal acts by lawless gangs in Gaza where they opened fire in cold blood on crowds commemorating the third anniversary of the death of the martyr Yasser Arafat.” Eight people were killed in Gaza City on Monday when Hamas police shot at demonstrators after a mass rally to remember the late Palestinian leader who died in a Paris hospital on Nov. 11, 2004.
Abbas’ comments were slammed by Hamas (the Islamic Resistance Movement). “Hamas is a pillar of the Palestinian people and not a clique that one can simply remove,” it said in a statement.
Abbas also used his speech to reach out to Israel ahead of a peace meeting in the United States expected later this month. “I address the Israeli people and government directly and say that we are determined to agree a real peace with them in the interests of both our future generations,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority has submitted to Israel a list of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, which they request to be released from Israeli prisons ahead of a US-sponsored peace conference in Annapolis later this month, Voice of Israel Radio reported yesterday.
According to the report, Israeli Justice Ministry Director General Moshe Shilo will be responding today with a list of prisoners, which Israel is willing to release, and next week Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will be making a final decision on the matter.
Olmert last Monday announced his plan to release 400 Palestinian prisoners in another goodwill gesture to bolster Abbas and his government before Annapolis parley.
Palestinian officials said that Palestinian Authority called on Israel to free senior Fatah leader Marwan Barghouthi. Ashraf Ajrami, Palestinian minister of prisoners’ affairs in the government of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, said in a statement that the Palestinian side would ask Israel to free some selective prisoners, including Barghouthi, from Israeli jails.
Barghouthi, a senior Fatah leader and a lawmaker, was detained by Israel in Ramallah during the large-scale “Defensive Shield” military operation in 2002. He was sentenced to five life imprisonment terms after an Israeli military court convicted him of ordering military attacks on Israel that killed Israelis.
“The issue of releasing Barghouthi is becoming more essential after overt Israeli voices in the Israeli leadership to release him have recently mounted,” Ajrami said.
“We had recently held contacts with the Israelis and the Americans to explain to them the necessity of releasing a large number of prisoners, including old and patients,” Ajrami added.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces operating in the West Bank city of Bethlehem yesterday arrested six Palestinians including two prominent Hamas’ leaders in city. Palestinian security sources and eyewitnesses said that Israeli forces raided Bethlehem from different directions before storming several houses.
According to eyewitnesses, the Israeli forces detained Ghassan Hirmas, a lecturer from Al-Qods Open University, and Sheikh Hasan Wardyan. Both are alleged to be Hamas leaders in the West Bank.
