Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas renewed
his call Wednesday for internal national dialogue to reunite the Palestinian
people, a year after the Islamist Hamas military takeover of the Gaza Strip.
The call included remarks seen as the first time Abbas had hinted at
possible direct talks with Hamas even before the Islamist group relinquishes
its hold on the Gaza Strip - a condition he has always made for resuming
dialogue.
Speaking to journalists at his Ramallah headquarters in a quickly called press
conference, Abbas announced he would also call for presidential and legislative
elections, urging Hamas to accept this initiative. He did not give a date.
"I call for comprehensive national dialogue to implement the Yemeni initiative
in all its elements," Abbas said. "In order to make the dialogue
successful, I will move on the Arab and international levels to secure support
for this step."
Yemen presented an initiative earlier this year to end the conflict between
Hamas and the Palestinian Authority that arose when Hamas used force to oust
the PA from the Gaza Strip, leaving it in control only of the West Bank.
Fatah, the main Hamas rival, accepted the Yemeni initiative and signed an
agreement with Hamas to that regard in the presence of the Yemeni President Ali
Abdullah Saleh. However, the two sides disagreed later over the interpretation
of the agreement.
While Fatah said the agreement means immediate implementation, starting with
the first article that calls on Hamas to go back on its military takeover and
return power in Gaza to the PA, Hamas said the agreement called for initiating
dialogue to implement the agreement.
Abbas said: "We will work to provide every possibility to make this
dialogue successful." He said this call for renewed dialogue came after
intensive internal discussion among the various Palestinian political factions.
The Palestinian president opened his statement marking the 41st anniversary for
the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He stressed that
"passage of time and decades for the occupation of our land does not force
us to give up a single inch of this land."
He said: "If Israel wants security and peace, it has to withdraw to the
June 4, 1967 borders." He said Israeli settlement activities are
"null and void" and "there cannot be peace as a result of these
activities."
He defended the negotiations his administration is conducting with Israel to
reach a final peace settlement and said that "our meetings and
negotiations are an occasion for us to reaffirm our determination to achieve a
comprehensive and just peace."
Abbas described the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip as a
"war crime," calling on the Arab and international communities to
intervene to end the blockade, dpa reported.