Turmoil In Palestine

Ismail Haniya, a leader of the Islamic Hamas movement, has rejected his dismissal as Palestinian prime minister after advances by Hamas in its internecine conflict with the Fatah movement left it in control of all Fatah security compounds in the Gaza Strip.

President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah dissolved the so-called unity government between Hamas and Fatah and declared a state of emergency shortly before the last of Fatah's security strongholds fell early Friday.

However, Haniya said at a press conference that his government would remain in office, calling Abbas' decision 'haphazard' and adding that the president had apparently not thought over the consequences, news reports said.

Meanwhile, Abbas spokesman Tayeb Abdel Rakhim said Thursday night in the West Bank city of Ramallah that the president plans to assemble an emergency government as he called Hamas actions in the Gaza Strip a 'criminal war.'

Hamas won Palestinian elections in January 2006, but it agreed to a unity government with Fatah in March this year in an effort to end months-long bloody fighting between the two rival movements. Tensions continued, however, and in the latest fighting that has lasted a week, more than 85 people have been killed.

Haniya said Hamas does not want to declare its own state in the Gaza Strip separate from the West Bank, where Fatah remained the dominant force, adding that Hamas would now be responsible for security throughout the Strip. He called on the police and security forces loyal to Hamas to restore law and order and told Hamas members to be merciful with captured Fatah supporters.

'This is the beginning of Islamic rule,' Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said, speaking of a 'second liberation of the Gaza Strip,' the first being the 2005 withdrawal of Israeli troops and settlers there.

Violence was also reported Thursday in the West Bank as Fatah supporters waged sporadic attacks on businesses and offices of Hamas members, Palestinian officials said. Political observers feared that widespread fighting might also break out there.

The conflict caused countries and organizations around the world to scramble to try to resolve the conflict. The Arab League has called an emergency session Friday in Cairo and called on the Palestinians 'in the name of all Arabs' to stop the killing.

Calls for peacekeepers for the Gaza Strip were made at the United Nations in New York, and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert discussed an international deployment with him in a telephone call.

Ban said many questions remained to be answered about a potential international deployment, including where such troops would be deployed and what their mission would be while Hamas rejected such a deployment altogether with Zuhri saying Hamas would see it as an occupational force. (m&c.com)
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Update: Abdullah Advises Mahmoud Abbas To Talk To Hamas.