Abbas: Hamas Unity Deal ´Frozen´ (INN) ISRAEL NATIONAL NEWS) By Gabe Kahn 03/29/12)
Source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/154287#.T3SPN2GO2So
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Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that the
reconciliation deal between his Fatah faction and Hamas is going
nowhere.
"Unity is frozen," said Abbas, who is in Baghdad to attend the Arab
League summit.
Abbas said he had agreed "on many points" with Hamas politburo chief
Khaled Mashaal during their meeting in Qatar in February.
"We agreed on the vision and objectives and conditions in full,"
Abbas said. "I confirm that Mashaal was honest and we were ready."
But "some Hamas leaders rejected the agreements reached in Doha," he
said in a clear reference to Ismail Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders
in Gaza who blocked the deal.
"The ball is now in Hamas´ court," Abbas said, adding that
Qatar "knows all the finer details."
Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation deal in Cairo last May to end
years of rivalry, but the deal repeatedly stalled over who would run
a new unity government.
Abbas and Mashaal agreed in Doha that Abbas himself would take the
post of prime minister, but Hamas leaders in Gaza made additional
demands.
Those demands left Hamas in complete control of Gaza, while giving
the terror organization significant power in PA enclaves in Judea and
Samaria as well – conditions unacceptable to Abbas.
Meanwhile, Abbas said he hoped for political support from regional
leaders at the Arab League summit, the first in Iraq for more than
two decades.
"We hope the summit will adopt calls for emotional, political and
financial support for Palestine and particularly Jerusalem," Abbas
told AFP.
The PA has found itself strapped for cash and teetering on the edge
of insolvency amid a deepening economic crisis as donor nations -
including Arab states – routinely refuse to honor their pledges.
Ramallah´s budget, which far outstrips the capacity of its local
economy to support, is heavily dependent on foreign donations to
survive.
Abbas told The Associated Press late Wednesday by telephone from
Baghdad that "there are demands related to financial support,
especially supporting Jerusalem... because the PA is in a difficult
financial situation." (IsraelNationalNews © 2012 03/29/12)
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