GAZA CITY, 12 October 2007 — With international pressure and isolation mounting by the day, Hamas has yielded ground for the first time since capturing the Gaza Strip four months ago by announcing yesterday that its rule is temporary. Hamas softened its stand toward its Fatah rivals and again called for dialogue to settle all contentious issues.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has ruled out dialogue with Hamas until it returns Gaza to his authority, ending the de facto division of Palestinians that followed Hamas’ deadly seizure of the narrow strip.
Senior Hamas leader and former Premier Ismail Haniyeh, who was sacked by Abbas when the Islamists wrested control of the impoverished enclave, told supporters late Wednesday: “Our administration of Gaza is temporary.”
Haniyeh declared that talks with Abbas’ Fatah party would resume after this weekend’s feast of Eid Al-Fitr, which follows the fasting month of Ramadan, in an Arab state that he did not name.
Although Hamas has often called for dialogue since the mid-June takeover, it was the first time the hard-line group, certainly its leadership, has hinted it could relinquish control of the territory.
The overture comes with Gaza cut off from the rest of the world, Hamas boycotted internationally, saddled with sanctions and with Israel threatening a serious offensive against what it has declared a “hostile entity.”
“Hamas and the (sacked) government have a sincere desire to make dialogue work,” Haniyeh’s spokesman Taher Al-Nunu reiterated to AFP yesterday.
Asked if Hamas would be willing to accept a return to the status quo that prevailed before the mid-June takeover that routed Fatah loyalists and killed more than 100 people, he replied: “Everything is open to discussion.” Abbas, whose power is limited to the West Bank, has ruled out dialogue with Hamas unless it first renounces power that he says was acquired in a coup. He has since appointed a new government based in Ramallah.
Washington and Israel would likely cast a dim view on any rapprochement between Abbas and Hamas, a group they blacklist as terrorist, particularly at a time when Israelis and Palestinians are trying to revive peace efforts.
Earlier, President Abbas met US envoy David Welch in Ramallah, preparing the ground for a visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the region next week.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops and armored vehicles rolled into the central Gaza Strip yesterday in an incursion that sparked gunfights and wounded five Palestinians, witnesses and medics said.
Around 20 armored vehicles thrust into an area around the Al-Maghazi refugee camp where clashes broke out between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen.
— With input from agencies
