HOLY LAND: HAMAS TO UNDERGO A SPLIT BECAUSE OF THE 'MECCA AGREEMENTS'?!?

Hamas faces split over Mecca accords
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

The national unity agreement that was reached last month in Mecca has triggered a behind-the-scenes power struggle in Hamas, sources close to the Islamic movement in the Gaza Strip revealed Tuesday.

Meanwhile, fierce fighting erupted Tuesday evening between Hamas members and gunmen belonging to a large clan in Gaza City, Palestinian security officials reported. The clashes began after a car carrying several Hamas members was fire upon in the Zeitoun neighborhood, they said, adding that Ala Hadad, a senior Hamas operative, was killed and four others injured.

"Hamas is facing a serious split," the sources said. "Opposition in Hamas to the Mecca agreement is growing as some of the movement's senior officials are talking about a possible revolt."

The "rejectionist" camp in Hamas, led by Interior Minister Said Siam and Foreign Affairs Minister Mahmoud a-Zahar, is opposed to the Mecca agreement under the pretext that Hamas made too many concessions to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction.
Both Siam and Zahar have privately criticized Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and Syria-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal for signing the agreement, a top Hamas official in Gaza City told The Jerusalem Post.

He said the two, along with a number of senior Hamas figures in the Gaza Strip, have refused to participate in coalition talks with Fatah representatives over the past few weeks. The two are expected to lose their jobs in the new Hamas-led coalition.

"Siam and Zahar are unhappy with the agreement not only because they won't serve in the unity government, but because they believe that Hamas has made far-reaching political concessions," the official said. "They are convinced that Hamas is gradually abandoning its ideology as Fatah did when it signed the Oslo Accords with Israel more than a decade ago."


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1) Hamas faces split over Mecca accords