Abbas hints PA close to ending unity agreement with Hamas
PA president reportedly to make announcement regarding deal to Arab League.
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH, JPOST.COM STAFFHamas deputy political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh (L) and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.(photo credit: REUTERS)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has hinted that he is close to ending his reconciliation agreement with Hamas.“We won’t accept the continuation of the situation with Hamas as it is now and in this shape,” he said. “There must be one authority and one regime.”Abbas accused Hamas of running its own “shadow government” in the Gaza Strip. “They have 27 directors-general of ministries and they are running the Gaza Strip,” he said. “The national consensus government can’t do anything on the ground.”Egyptian news website al-Dostor reported that Abbas will make an announcement on Sunday to the Arab League regarding the agreement.Hamas killed 120 Palestinian men who defied the curfew imposed by its security forces in the Gaza Strip during Operation Protective Edge, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told Egyptian journalists in Cairo on Saturday.“More than 120 youths were killed [by Hamas] because they did not abide by the house arrest imposed on them,” Abbas said. “This is in addition to the extra-judicial execution of 30-40 people during the Israeli assault.”Abbas claimed that Hamas lost “only” 50 of its men during the war, while 861 men belonging to his Fatah faction were killed. He did not say how the Fatah men were killed and by who.
