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Fatah activists protest party corruption
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-28 16:48
Thousands of Fatah supporters burned cars and shot in the air across the Gaza
Strip on Friday, demanding the resignation of corrupt party officials and
insisting there be no coalition between their defeated party and the victorious
Hamas.
Protestors are seen
around burning cars inside the courtyard of the Parliament in Gaza City
Friday Jan. 27, 2006. Thousands of members of Fatah, which badly lost
Palestinian parliament elections to Hamas this week, burned cars and shot
in the air in demonstrations across the Gaza Strip, demanding the
resignation of corrupt officials and insisting that Fatah form no
coalition with Hamas. [AP] |
The protest
against the party that dominated Palestinian politics for the past 40 years came
after President Mahmoud Abbas, who was elected last year to a four-year term,
said he would ask the Islamic militant group to form the next government. Abbas
later fired six Fatah officials.
Israel's government, caught off guard by the Hamas parliamentary landslide
after its vaunted intelligence services predicted a slim victory for Abbas'
Fatah Party, said it would have no contacts with a Palestinian government that
includes Hamas.
Acting Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni appealed to the international community
not to legitimize a Hamas government, saying elections "are not a whitewash for
terror."
President Bush said Friday in an interview with "CBS Evening News" that the
United States would cut aid to the Palestinian government unless Hamas abolishes
the militant arm of its party and stops calling for the destruction of Israel.
Despite international pressure, Hamas leaders said Friday they had no
intention of recognizing Israel.
"It's not in our mind now to recognize it as we believe that it's a state
that has usurped our land and expelled our people. These issues should be
handled before we talk about recognition," deputy Hamas leader Moussa Abu
Marzouk said from Damascus, Syria.
Hamas held a celebratory rally in the central Gaza town of Khan Younis, as
supporters waved green party flags and caps and chanted slogans.
An argument there between roughly 20 Hamas and Fatah loyalists degenerated
into gunfire and rock-throwing that left three people injured, one with gunshot
wounds. A second gunbattle wounded a police officer and a Hamas supporter,
police said.
Wednesday's election exposed deep tensions within Palestinian society and was
a clear rebuke to Fatah for its corruption and inability to maintain order.
Before the vote, veteran Fatah leaders, those most tainted by corruption
allegations, resisted repeated calls for reform by the Fatah young guard.
On Friday, thousands of Fatah activists, furious with those leaders for the
electoral loss, protested throughout Gaza and the West Bank, demanding the Fatah
central committee resign and insisting the party not form a partnership with
Hamas. Fatah officials publicly said they would not join a coalition government.
Demonstrators burned cars and shot in the air in front of the Palestinian
parliament building in Gaza City. About 1,000 angry party activists went to
Abbas' house in Gaza, and hundreds of gunmen fired rifles in the air. Abbas was
in the West Bank city of Ramallah at the time.
The protesters then marched through Gaza City toward the security
headquarters, tearing down Hamas election posters and banners and burning tires
in the street. A small group called on Abbas to resign.
"We are against joining any coalition with Hamas because this means a
disaster for Fatah and the Palestinian people," said Samir Mashrawi, a local
Fatah leader who was defeated in the election. "Instead, we want to be a strong
opposition and we want to fight and end the corruption of some of Fatah's
historical leaders."
About 500 Fatah protesters marched through the West Bank city of Hebron, also
calling for the resignation of party leaders.
Outgoing Deputy Prime Minister Nabil Shaath defended Abbas as the only hope
for salvaging the peace process. "His resignation would lead to either total
chaos or to Hamas taking over the presidency as well," he told CNN.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said he asked Abbas to meet Sunday to discuss
forming a government, but Abbas' office said no appointment had been made.
Hamas, which has no experience in governing, took 76 of the 132 parliament seats
up for grabs.
Ghazi Hamad, one of Hamas' top ideologues, said the group would consider
forming a government of technocrats with no connection to Hamas. Such a
government might relieve some of the international pressure on the group.
"We want a government for the Palestinian people, and if we couldn't do that
then there are lots of options, one of which is a technocrat government," he
said.
Hamas, responsible for dozens of suicide bombings on Israelis, has long
called for the destruction of the Jewish state. In recent years, some Hamas
leaders grudgingly accepted the idea of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and
Gaza, but only as a stage toward freeing the rest of Palestine — meaning Israel.
Hamas is listed as a terror organization by the United States and the
European Union. If the group fails to change its ways, Bush said, "we won't deal
with them."
"The aid packages won't go forward," he told CBS. "That's their decision to
make, but we won't be providing help to a government that wants to destroy our
ally and friend."
Jacob Walles, the U.S. consul-general in Jerusalem, said the United States
gives $400 million a year to the Palestinian Authority.
Former President Jimmy Carter told The Associated Press that the United
States is legally bound to cut off funding for a Hamas-led Palestinian
Authority. But Carter said Washington should look for other ways to funnel money
to the Palestinians, perhaps through U.N. agencies, "so that the people can
still continue to have food and shelter and health care and education."
If aid is cut off, "it would create an element of chaos unless the money is
made up by other sources," he said.
A Palestinian Cabinet minister, speaking on condition of anonymity because of
the sensitivity of the topic, said the government would have to fire 30,000 of
its 137,000 employees immediately if aid was cut.
Israeli officials said they will make a decision soon on whether to stop
transferring taxes and import duties it collects on behalf of the Palestinian
Authority, which make up about two-thirds of the authority's revenue.
But Israelis might not be so willing to shun a Hamas government.
A poll published in the daily Yediot Ahronot on Friday showed 48 percent of
Israelis questioned said Israel should negotiate with Hamas, while 43 percent
said Israel should not. The poll of 500 people had a 4.5 percentage point margin
of error and was conducted Wednesday, before Hamas' victory was announced.
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