Hamas rejects int'l troops in Gaza
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Hamas on Saturday rejected Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's call for deploying an international force in the Gaza Strip, warning that its men would attack any such organization.
Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, who heads one of two rival PA governments, said an international force was not acceptable.
"We in Gaza and the Palestinian territories are under occupation and we don't need any more forces to pressure the Palestinian people," Haniyeh said during a tour of a home in Gaza City that belongs to the estate of Yasser Arafat. "We are able to solve our problems."
Abbas, who is trying to win US and EU backing for dispatching an international force to the Gaza Strip, raised the proposal during a meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris on Friday.
Abbas lashed out at the "putschists" of Hamas for their violent takeover of Gaza earlier this month, and said he hoped to stage presidential and parliamentary elections before the end of the current terms.
"I proposed an international force in Gaza" to Sarkozy to ensure the elections can be held peacefully, Abbas said. "Elections necessitate a certain stability in security."
Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf states have rejected Abbas's call, urging him instead to resume dialogue with Hamas on the formation of a second Hamas-Fatah unity government.
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Pertinent Links:
1) Hamas rejects int'l troops in Gaza
Sunday, July 01, 2007
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