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Official: Palestinian president is not intending to get Gaza back by force

Israel Materials 25 September 2008 14:39 (UTC +04:00)

A senior Palestinian official asserted on Thursday that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his security forces are not intending to get Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip by force, reported Xinhua.

Abdel Rahim Mallouh, member of the executive committee of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) said in a statement "President Abbas assured that he doesn't think at all to use force against Hamas movement in Gaza."

The militias of the Hamas movement took control of the Gaza Strip by force in mid June last year, following weeks of armed fighting with Abbas security forces and his Fatah militants.

Earlier this week, commander of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) security forces in the West Bank Deyab el-Ali said in an interview with the Israeli daily of Ha'aretz that the PNA might use force to regain Gaza.

El-Ali said that if the dialogue that is prepared to be held in Cairo in early November failed to achieve a reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, the PNA would study the possibility to use force against Hamas to regain Gaza.

Earlier reports also said that if the dialogue in Cairo fails to achieve a reconciliation and an end to the current political split between Gaza and the West Bank, the PNA intends to deal with Gaza as a rebelled territory.

Mallouh denied that the PLO executive committee had discussed the idea of considering the Gaza Strip a rebelled territory. He accused Hamas movement for undermining the legality of the PLO and president Abbas.  

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