Fatah activists take to streets against Hamas govt

Thousands of Fatah supporters burned cars and fired guns in the air across the Gaza Strip, demanding the resignation of corrupt party officials and insisting on no coalition between their defeated party and victorious Hamas.

The protest against the party that dominated Palestinian politics for the past 40 years came after President Mahmoud Abbas, who was elected last year to a four-year term, said yesterday he would ask the Islamic militant group to form the next government. Abbas later sacked six Fatah officials.

Israel’s government, caught off guard by the Hamas parliamentary landslide after its renowned intelligence services predicted a slim victory for Abbas’ Fatah Party, said it would have no contacts with a Palestinian government that included Hamas.

Acting foreign minister Tzipi Livni appealed to the international community not to legitimise a Hamas government, saying elections “are not a whitewash for terror”.

US president George Bush said yesterday in a television interview with CBS Evening News that the US would cut aid to the Palestinian government unless Hamas abolished the militant arm of its party and stopped calling for the destruction of Israel.

Despite international pressure, Hamas leaders said yesterday they had no intention of recognising Israel.

“It’s not in our mind now to recognise it as we believe that it’s a state that has usurped our land and expelled our people. These issues should be handled before we talk about recognition,” deputy Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouk said from Damascus, Syria.

Hamas held a celebratory rally in the central Gaza town of Khan Younis, as supporters waved green party flags and caps and chanted slogans.

An argument there between about 20 Hamas and Fatah loyalists degenerated into gunfire and rock-throwing that left three people injured, one with gunshot wounds. A second gun battle wounded a police officer and a Hamas supporter, police said.

Wednesday’s election exposed deep tensions within Palestinian society and was a clear rebuke to Fatah for its corruption and inability to maintain order. Before the vote, veteran Fatah leaders, those most tainted by corruption allegations, resisted repeated calls for reform by the Fatah young guard.

Yesterday, thousands of Fatah activists, furious with those leaders for the electoral loss, protested throughout Gaza and the West Bank, demanding the Fatah central committee resign and insisting the party not form a partnership with Hamas. Fatah officials said publicly they would not join a coalition government.

Demonstrators burned cars and fired in the air in front of the Palestinian parliament building in Gaza City. About 1,000 angry party activists went to Abbas’ house in Gaza and hundreds of gunmen fired rifles in the air. Abbas was in the West Bank city of Ramallah at the time.

The protesters then marched through Gaza City toward the security headquarters, tearing down Hamas election posters and banners and burning tyres in the street. A small group called on Abbas to resign.

“We are against joining any coalition with Hamas because this means a disaster for Fatah and the Palestinian people,” said Samir Mashrawi, a local Fatah leader who was defeated in the election. “Instead, we want to be a strong opposition and we want to fight and end the corruption of some of Fatah’s historical leaders.”

About 500 Fatah protesters marched through the West Bank city of Hebron, also calling for the resignation of party leaders.

Outgoing deputy prime Minister Nabil Shaath defended Abbas as the only hope for salvaging the peace process. “His resignation would lead to either total chaos or to Hamas taking over the presidency as well,” he told CNN.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said he asked Abbas to meet him on Sunday to discuss forming a government, but Abbas’ office said no appointment had been made. Hamas, which has no experience in governing, took 76 of the 132 parliament seats up for grabs.

Ghazi Hamad, one of Hamas’ top ideologues, said the group would consider forming a government of technocrats with no connection to Hamas. Such a government might relieve some of the international pressure on the group.

“We want a government for the Palestinian people, and if we couldn’t do that then there are lots of options, one of which is a technocrat government,” he said.

Hamas, responsible for dozens of suicide bombings on Israelis, has long called for the destruction of the Jewish state. In recent years, some Hamas leaders grudgingly accepted the idea of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, but only as a stage towards freeing the rest of Palestine – meaning Israel.

Hamas is listed as a terror organisation by the United States and the European Union. If the group fails to change its ways, Bush said: “We won’t deal with them”.

“The aid packages won’t go forward,” he told CBS. “That’s their decision to make, but we won’t be providing help to a government that wants to destroy our ally and friend.”