Hamas Considers Joining PLO

GAZA CITY - In a rare press conference, leading Hamas figure Mahmoud Al-Zahhar signaled last Sunday, December 5, the possibility of joining the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), provided that it amends its charter along “basics articulated in a charter paper” presented by Hamas.

“During our latest session of national dialogue with Abu Mazen (PLO head Mahmoud Abbas) Thursday, December 2, we gave him the paper of Palestinian charter of honor.

“We will first hold bilateral talks about the presented paper. If we agree on that charter, we will move to the comprehensive reference gathering all Palestinians, inside and outside (Palestine),” Al-Zahhar said.

“There is an article (in the presented charter) on Hamas joins the PLO. We will work on reshaping that organization (PLO) in a way that satisfies all Palestinians and serves our national causes.”

Hamas has always rejected joining the PLO with its current charter – amended after Oslo Accords which Hamas does not recognize for, as it asserts, failing to fulfill the minimum of the Palestinians’ ambitions.

“The temporary article (in Hamas’s paper) determines how to deal with the lands of settlements after the Israeli occupation withdraws wherefrom,” Al-Zahar said.

According to Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon’s controversial disengagement plan, Israeli forces will withdraw from all settlements in the Gaza Strip and four others in the West Bank.

Al-Zahhar insisted that “no one could impose on us solutions that do not meet our minimum ambitions in this stage”, recalling how Oslo failed to produce any tangible results.

The statements came on the eve of talks in the Syrian capital Damascus between Abbas and Khaled Mashaal, the head of Hamas.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zahri said that Hamas sees the PLO as “one of the great achievements by the Palestinian people that must be preserved.”

“But the PLO is in currently bad-shaped. Institutional work is, unfortunately, marginalized. The organization is still acting unilaterally, ignoring Hamas as the biggest Palestinian power, and not including it in the decision-making.”

He stressed that the PLO “must be reshaped to conform with the new realities. Once this is done, Hamas will join the PLO.”

Following the signing of Oslo Accords in 1993, the PLO and Fatah movement controlled the Palestinian Authority that was set up after the 1996 general elections.

Late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, who headed both the PLO and Fatah, died at a French military hospital Thursday, November 11, at the age of 75.

The caretaker of the Palestinian Authority, speaker of the parliament Rawhi Fatouh, issued a presidential decree setting January 9 as the date for the long-anticipated presidential election.

Hamas has already declared it would not participate in the presidential elections, pressing for general and municipal elections first.

During the press conference, Al-Zahhar refused a decision by the Palestinian Legislative Council on adopting the civil registration office’s lists instead of electoral lists.

“We do not accept forging the will of the Palestinian people, especially during the coming period.”

He said Hamas agreed to adopting the civil registration office’s lists before the start of the enlisting process to give all a chance to review them, but the PA supported the electoral lists.

Al-Zahar said that after an agreement was reached Fatah lawmakers blocked it in the PLC, a move he dubbed as “unprecedented for parliaments that respect the will and ambitions of its peoples”.

Several Hamas leaders have recently sent mixing signals on the possibility of hudna or truce with Israel.

Al-Zahhar poured cold water on the issue after speculations that preceded his meeting Thursday with Abu Mazen, suggesting the PLO chairman might be pushing for such a move.

“No single word was said about a truce,” Al-Zahar told reporters.

“Until now we are still defending ourselves, defending our people and pushing the Israelis outside our territory.”

But British daily the Independent Monday, December 6, said the recently freed Hamas leading figure in the West Bank Sheikh Hassan Yousuf appeared not to rule out the possibility.

According to the daily, Sheikh Hassan said Hamas had been “considering” a halt to bombings if Israelis ceased killing civilians, adding the discussion of a ceasefire was not new and Hamas had joined other factions during Abbas's premiership last year in “testing” Israel's willingness to agree to a ceasefire.

Asked if Hamas was prepared to mount a second “test”, he said: “Abu Mazen has not yet made an official request to do that. When he does, our response will be responsible and in the interests of the Palestinian people.”

The 2003 ceasefire collapsed after Israel assassinated Ismail Abu Shanab, a Hamas political leader.

Palestinian factions reacted saying that by assassinating Abu Shanab Israel killed stone dead the three-month truce declared by the main resistance groups on June 29.

http://www.palestinechronicle.com/story.php?sid=20041208040036543