Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat,a long-time confident of President Mahmoud Abbas, on Monday claimed that Hamas destroyed the basics of a future Palestinian statehood by demanding the Gaza Strip economy to be associated with Egypt and the West Bank economy linked to Jordan.
"Hamas' proposals completely harm the national project," Erekat told the official Voice of Palestine radio. "It is clear that Hamas' main concern is how to maintain its coup and keep the stateof anarchy and loss in Gaza Strip."
By mentioning coup, Abbas was referring to last June's bitter infighting between Hamas militants and Abbas' Fatah security forces in the Gaza Strip, which ended with a fiasco for Fatah and Hamas' takeover of the strip.
After last June's deadly infighting, Abbas sacked the Hamas-led Palestinian government, which was rejected by Hamas. As a result, the geographically-divided Palestinian territories was further politically split -- with Hamas ruling the Gaza Strip and Abbas' Fatah running the West Bank.
Following last June's infighting, Israel's tightened siege had almost brought a humanitarian crisis to the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, which boasts a total population of nearly 1.5 million and heavily depends on outside aid inflow of almost everything, from basic foodstuffs to medicine.
"Hamas holds 1.5 million people hostages in Gaza and so it played with the security of neighboring Egypt, the West Bank and Palestine and also destroyed the Palestinian leadership for the sake of maintaining Gaza control," Erekat claimed.
On Jan. 23, militants from Hamas' armed wing blew up fence walls at the borders between the southern Gaza Strip and Egypt, which allowed tens of thousands of Gazans to flock into the Egyptian side to stock up on daily necessities.
Erekat also claimed that Hamas' inflexibility hindered Abbas' efforts to reopen Gaza crossings.
According to Erekat, Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert told Abbas that the Palestinian Authority (PA) forces would be fallen into "Hamas' control" if they were deployed at Gaza crossings based on Abbas' plan.
He added that Gaza can not be a model of the statehood that Hamas looks for. "Does Hamas want to beg salaries for employees, food and water? Is this the state that they want?" Erekat asked.
Erekat's accusation against Hamas was the latest case of a lasting word war between Hamas and Abbas' Fatah movements, featuring claims and counter-claims, after last June's infighting,which was aimed to vie for trust and credibility among Palestinians.
Source:Xinhua
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