Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel
of avoiding to implement the signed agreements and especially the
latest agreement in Sharm Al-Sheikh last February, Palestinian sources
reported.
Speaking in a press conference in Gaza city, Abbas also said Israel keep delaying agreements reached by the joint teams.
The conference was mainly focused on the latest security reforms Abbas
carried out in the Palestinian Authority, especially the
forced-retirements that he signed lately for at least 1100 security
officers and the changes in the general and military intelligence,
police and national security forces on the leadership level.
‘Israel, through its media and diplomacy, is inciting against the
Palestinian Authority. We did not and will not respond because
this method would only lead to disconnection and would complicate
things. Israel always uses this way and now we understand why
they do not implement agreements’ Abbas said.
Abbas said there is no will on the Israeli side to implement the
agreements, and this applies to the agreement we reached about the
claimed wanted Palestinian fighters.
‘Have you ever thought why 64 claimed wanted fighters still did not go
back to their homes yet? It is not a trivial reason, or
secondary, it is a core issue. We agree on something, and find
something else when it comes to implementation, Abbas said, and added,
‘They [the Israeli officials] would say, we can not remove this
checkpoint, or open this or that road, so what is the meaning of the
agreement then? They do not want to implement any agreement’
This conference comes on day 100 for Abbas as president. In 2003,
Abbas was appointed Prime Minister by the late Palestinian President
Yasser Arafat. Abbas resigned after 100 after a cease-fire that
he reached with the Palestinian resistance groups failed because of the
assassination of one of the poles of the cease-fire Ismael Abu Shanab
from Hamas.
Abbas says expects Hamas to disarm if joins the legislative council
Abbas said Hamas is expected to drop its weapons when it joins the
Palestinian Legislative Council this summer, Palestinian sources
reported.
Hamas, the biggest armed group, declared that it will participate in
the legislative elections to take place in July. This would be
the first time for Hamas to join general elections, as it boycotted the
1996 legislative, presidential elections for political reasons.
Abbas welcomed Hamas intention to join the political process assuming that this will help disarming it.
‘When a movement or militia is transformed into a political party, I
would say that there will then be no need for them to possess weapons,’
Abbas told reporters. ‘There will be only one authority, one law, and
one legal gun. The issue is very clear, and this has been common
practice throughout history.’
Yet Hamas did not say that it will drop arms after the elections.
The Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, Mahmoud Al-Zahar, said Monday he
would not agree to give up arms.
On the other hand, Mahmoud Al-Zahar called on Hamas leaders who live
outside of Palestine to come back after the Israeli withdrawal from the
Gaza Strip.
Under its plan for the disengagement from the Gaza Strip, however,
Israel intends to retain control over the land, air and sea entrances
and exits to the Gaza Strip, something that almost all Palestinian
factions reject.
