Abbas Calls For Elections

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday he has decided to call presidential and parliamentary elections at the earliest possible date.

He made the dramatic announcement in a major policy speech at his West Bank headquarters.

Analysis: Same old Fatah means victory for Hamas
"I ... decided to call for early presidential and parliament elections," Abbas said to a standing ovation. "Let us return to the people, to hear their word, and let them be the judge."

"I will look into and have discussed with the Central Election Committee at the soonest possible way to start preparing for this matter," he said.

The Hamas government quickly denounced the decision as "coup" against the will of the Palestinian people, and Hamas leaders, including Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar, called on Abbas to resign.

Abbas aide Yasser Abed Rabbo says the date for early elections will be set within a week, and that vote would be held within three months.

Abbas also slammed Hamas and its policies in Gaza, specifically the firing of Kassam rockets into Israel.

"Gaza is free of occupation, but there are no investors and no prosperity," he said. "We dreamed that [Gaza] would prosper and dozens of investors from all over the world came to Gaza. Nothing has come to fruition.

"We decided it was better to fire rockets. Israel left, said goodbye, and instead of [Gaza] remaining calm and flourishing, there are those that still prefer to fire rockets."

Abbas also claimed he has the right to dismiss the Hamas-led government, but stopped short of saying he would do so.

"The dismissal of the government is not like Mahmoud Zahar said, a recipe for civil war," he said, referring to the Hamas foreign minister. "They don't scare us," he said.

Abbas also accused armed Hamas supporters of destroying and looting the Palestinian-controlled Rafah border terminal in an incident earlier this week.

"This chaos ... and sabotage led to the obstruction of the crossing," Abbas said at his West Bank headquarters.

While Abbas is not expected to set a date for a vote, he plans to convene the Central Election Commission in coming days to hear how much time it would need to prepare for elections, said a top Abbas aide, Saeb Erekat.

A call for elections, without a specific date, would leave open the door for another attempt to reach agreement with Hamas on a joint government with Abbas' Fatah Party. Coalition talks broke down last month, and the deadlock triggered several days of deadly fighting in Gaza earlier this week.

Hamas vehemently opposes new elections, saying it amounts to a coup attempt. Its leaders said they would boycott the speech at Abbas' West Bank headquarters in protest. Parliament elections were held less than a year ago, and Hamas won by a landslide, trouncing Fatah.

On Friday, Hamas accused an Abbas ally, Gaza strongman Mohammed Dahlan, of being behind an attempt to kill Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas. In the incident, shots were fired at Haniyeh's entourage late Thursday, killing one of the bodyguards who had ringed the prime minister to try to shield him.

In the funeral for the bodyguard, a top Hamas legislator made veiled assassination threats against Dahlan, who has denied involvement.

Independent experts have said Abbas would be on shaky legal ground in calling early elections.

They said the Basic Law, which acts as a constitution, doesn't give him the authority to disband the legislature.

Abbas aides say he has ways around the legal hurdles, by either calling a referendum on whether to hold elections, or by invoking superior powers as leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Jerusalem Post
12.17.2006