DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - ISRAEL/HOLY LAND: FATAH & ITS 'TOLERANT ISLAM'

Fatah touts tolerant Islam
Abbas government platform pledge seen as indirect swipe at Hamas in aftermath of Gaza takeover
by Wafa Amr

JERUSALEM–A new Palestinian government platform drawn up by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad pledges, in an indirect swipe at the Islamist group Hamas, to prevent the use of violence in the name of Islam.

An official English-language translation, released yesterday, of the policy document said Fayyad's administration would build a clear-cut strategy to "enhance the status of Islam as a religion of tolerance."

At the same time, the platform said, the government would prevent "the use of Islam to justify killings, exclusion of others and destruction."

The phrasing was clearly aimed at the Hamas Islamists who took control of Gaza last month in fighting with President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah faction.

The group has accused Abbas, based in the West Bank where Fatah holds sway, of carrying out a coup by setting up the new government without Hamas, which won an election 18 months ago.
Palestinian officials on Friday confirmed that the new platform omits the phrase "armed struggle" and "resistance" against Israeli occupation. Hamas has rebuffed international demands to recognize Israel and renounce violence, but a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has welcomed the new language.

Fayyad, a U.S.-educated economist who enjoys international respect for fighting corruption and implementing reforms, presented the platform to Abbas on Thursday.

The revision of terminology that had appeared in the platforms of the previous two Hamas-led governments coincides with a flurry of diplomatic activity aimed at resuming long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.

Since dismissing the Hamas government after its violent takeover of Gaza on June 14, Abbas has called for peaceful resistance to occupation and has strongly condemned the firing of rockets into Israel.

In the platform, Fayyad reiterated that his government would "fully abide by bilateral and multilateral agreements signed by the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and the Palestinian National Authority, including those signed with Israel."

Meanwhile, Fayyad ruled out any dialogue with Hamas so long as it maintains its takeover of Gaza.

"Our demands are known: power and the institutions in Gaza were taken over by force and violence," he said during a visit to Amman where he meet his Jordanian counterpart Maaruf Bakhit. "The abnormal situation must stop before we can talk of a possible dialogue."



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1) Fatah touts tolerant Islam