Some of the armed resistance groups vowed to challenge the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ decision to disarm resistance men wanted by Israel.
While the Islamic Jihad and Hamas completely rejected Abbas’ intention, the Fatah-affiliated, Aqsa Martyr Brigades split over the issue. Reuters reported on Monday.
Abbas effort followed riots in the West Bank city of Ramallah last week, when a group of the ‘wanted’ resistance men, shot several rounds in the air right by the Palestinian Authority’s headquarters and ransacked some restaurants in the city.
Reuters also reported that Abbas is under pressure to fulfill commitments he made in Sharm Al-Sheik summit last February.
Abbas formed special committees to follow up on this issue and allowed them two weeks to solve the problem with 530 Palestinians on the Israeli army’s ‘wanted’ list.
According to Abbas’ deal between Abbas the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the fighters will occupy jobs in the Palestinian Authority after they lay down their weapons. Israel then will stop chasing them.
It is not clear what measures Abbas will take if the resistance fighters totally reject his proposal.
On the other hand, Musheer Al-Masri, spokesman of Hamas in Gaza Strip stated, it will not ‘halt the resistance and will not remove our fingers from the trigger.’ Hamas agreed to the calm however it did not promise to lay down weapons.
Khaled Al-Batsh a prominent leader of the Islamic Jihad told Reuters that ‘priority should be given to the resistance to the occupation and not to confiscate the resistance weapon,’ calling Abbas to revise his decision.
