DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - HOLY LAND: LEAVE DOOR OPEN FOR RAPPROCHEMENT WITH HAMAS = ADVICE FOR ABBAS

Abbas warned not to force Islamists' hand
Careful to leave door open to rapprochement, militant tells Palestinian president aggression must stop or West Bank could be next
by MARK MACKINNON

GAZA CITY — The man who now effectively rules the Gaza Strip warned Tuesday that Hamas will move to take over the rest of the Palestinian territories unless president Mahmoud Abbas soon halts the continuing crackdown against Hamas militants in the West Bank.

In his first interview with a Western newspaper since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip last week, Mahmoud Zahar, the former Palestinian foreign minister who heads the hard-line wing of Hamas in Gaza, said that Islamists are exercising extreme patience in the face of widespread arrests and harassment of its members across the West Bank. But if the attacks by Mr. Abbas's Fatah movement don't stop, he said, Hamas will be “forced” to take over the West Bank as it did Gaza, when it routed Fatah forces in a matter of days.

“We have to protect our people in the West Bank. I am afraid that if the aggression continues, they will be forced to defend themselves by all means and repeat the same example as in Gaza,” he said, adding the group has greater military capabilities in the West Bank than is commonly understood. He noted that Hamas had provided most of the suicide bombers that struck Israel during the last Palestinian uprising, or intifada.

“We have to defend ourselves and the will of the Palestinian people,” Mr. Zahar said, referring to the fact Hamas won legislative elections last year. “I am warning Mr. Abbas; I am not threatening anybody.”

While Fatah is stronger in the West Bank than it was in Gaza, and Hamas is forced by the Israeli military presence to remain underground there, Fatah strongman Mohammed Dahlan said Tuesday that it would be “very easy” for Hamas to conquer the West Bank unless Fatah and the Palestinian Authority rapidly reform their security systems.

Mr. Zahar said that while many observers had been surprised by Hamas's rapid one-week takeover of the Gaza Strip, the movement itself wasn't, “because we understand our power.”
Sitting in the spacious reception room of his Gaza City home – which doubles as a garage for his black Mercedes SUV and white Volkswagen Golf, both emblazoned with the word “Allah” on the windshield – Mr. Zahar slammed Mr. Abbas's decision to declare a state of emergency and to fire Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas member, from the prime minister's post after the Gaza takeover.

He charged that Mr. Abbas had “started the process of division” between the Fatah-dominated West Bank and the Hamas-run Gaza by setting up a government in Ramallah that included no Hamas members. Speaking in practised English, Mr. Zahar said that Hamas still respects the Fatah leader as the popularly elected president and was willing to meet with him in Gaza to negotiate an end to the crisis. But he argued that the newly appointed government of Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad was illegal under Palestinian law, and that Hamas, which won legislative elections last year, was still the legitimate authority.

“We respect Abu Mazen [Mr. Abbas], yes, because he came through elections, but the latest government in the West Bank is illegal. That's not just our idea, it's the constitution of the Palestinian people, a constitution that was organized by Fatah,” the former surgeon said, his face framed by his trademark white beard and comb-over.

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1) Abbas warned not to force Islamists' hand