Fatah reiterates holding elections in January if Hamas refuses unity deal

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party emphasized again that the Palestinian general elections would be held in January if the Islamic Hamas movement refused to accept an Egyptian proposal for Palestinian unity, Xinhua reported.
  
The proposal gives Hamas, which won the parliamentary elections in 2006, additional five months in power as it delays the general elections to the middle of next year.
  
"If Hamas thwarted the dialogue, we will go to presidential and parliamentary elections in their due time (Jan. 25, 2010) according to the law and the basic system," said Mohammed Dahlan, a member of Fatah central committee.
  
"We will not accept Hamas to mortgage our people and sell them in Tehran and Syria," Dahlan told a press conference in Ramallah, referring to the Islamic movement's ties with Iran and Syria.
  
The Egyptian efforts aim to restore political ties to the Hamas- controlled Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Hamas took over Gaza after routing pro-Abbas forces in June 2007.
  
Egyptian Intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, the main mediator between Hamas and Fatah, has "become weary of Hamas which has stockpile of lies bigger than those of Netanyahu," Dahlan said.
  
Hamas has asked for more time to respond to the proposal, while despite reservations, Fatah has accepted the Egyptian offer and signed it.
  
Rebuilding the war-torn Gaza was one of the reasons that encouraged Fatah to accept the reconciliation plan, Dahlan explained.
  
Dahlan, who once led the security services in Gaza, warned that the division between Gaza and West Bank will help the Israeli Prime Minister to avoid international pressure to stop Jewish settlement and get committed to peace.