Hamas official holds Abbas responsible for failure of national dialogue

A Hamas official on Saturday blamed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' aides and his Fatah party for the failure of the unity government talks.

Khalil al-Haiya, a Hamas lawmaker, also threatened that the ruling party would not tolerate "any measures violating the law or revolting against the Palestinian legitimacy and democracy for the benefit of America or the Jewish state."

The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), dominated by Abbas' Fatah movement, announced on Friday the suspension of talks between Hamas and Fatah which were aimed at reaching a deal to form a unity government.

Al-Haiya said Fatah has first demanded to stop the talks even before the departure of Prime Minister Ismail Haneya from the Hamas movement.

The timing Haneya had selected to begin his first regional tour since he took office as prime minister in March, was criticized by observers since it would delay the birth of the unity government, which is deemed by many as urgent to save the Palestinians from hardship resulted by the western embargo on the Hamas-led government.

On Friday, Azzam al-Ahmad, chief of Fatah parliamentary bloc, said Hamas did not offer new steps regarding the formation of the government.

Taysser Khaled, a member of the PLO, said the failure of the inter-Palestinian talks was expected because they were only limited to the two movements of Hamas and Fatah, which for all their long-haul talks, "did not agree on the form of the government or its political program."

Khaled also called for early elections or referendum to be held to get the Palestinians out of the crisis.

Source: Xinhua