Extremisten tegen Annapolis conferentie / onenigheid binnen Hamas

Ja, ook Hamas kent naast een radikale tevens een gematigde tak, vertegenwoordigd door ex-premier Haniyeh, die naar verzoening met Fatah streeft om de Palestijnse eenheid te herstellen. (De radikale tak wil gewoon de Westoever met geweld overnemen.)

 

Die eenheid lijkt steeds verder te zoeken, nu Hamas en andere extremistische groepen een alternatieve bijeenkomst (vredesconferentie zal het moeilijk kunnen heten) in Damascus willen houden als tegenwicht voor de Annapolis vredesconferentie waaraan Abbas zal deelnemen.

 

Welke van de twee bijeenkomsten zal de International Solidarity Movement (ISM) bezoeken? Ze zijn immers solidair met de Palestijnen, maar met welke Palestijnen?

 

 

Wouter

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Excerpts: Opposition to Annapolis meeting / Discord within Hamas

+++AL-AHRAM WEEKLY 1-7 Nov.'07: "A parallel PLO"

HEADING: "Palestinian factions plan an alternative to the Annapolis conference and it will convene in Damascus, reports Khaled Amayreh from Ramallah"
QUOTE: "Abbas has asked Syria to cancel the meeting"
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EXCERPTS:

The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) has been making frantic efforts to block the "national conference" that the Hamas-led opposition plans to convene in Damascus to highlight their rejection of the upcoming US- sponsored conference in Annapolis, Maryland, scheduled for November or early December. The conference in the Syrian capital was due to take place on 7 November but has been postponed, reportedly in order to coincide with the Annapolis conference.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas has asked Syria to cancel the two-day meeting, arguing that it will exacerbate internal Palestinian divisions and seriously weaken the Palestinian position in Annapolis. Earlier this week he dispatched three aides to the Syrian capital in an attempt to convince Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to ban the meeting. Syrian officials have made it clear that Syria will not attend the Annapolis conference unless Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights is on the agenda.

In addition to Hamas, several Palestinian factions plan to attend the Damascus conference, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the second most important PLO faction after Fatah. The participation of the PFLP is significant in that it signals an end to the erstwhile PLO unity against Hamas that has prevailed since its takeover of the Gaza Strip in mid-June. Abbas can no longer claim that he enjoys the full backing of PLO factions in his protracted showdown with Hamas.

Participants will also include the Damascus-based PFLP-General Command, led by Ahmed Jibril, as well as the Islamic Jihad organisation, headed by Ramadan Abdullah Shallah. Farouk Al-Qaddumi and Hani Al-Hassan, two senior members of Fatah, have indicated they will attend in protest against what they term "Abbas's line" and "his subservience to America and Israel".
.  .  .
Defending his leadership in the face of mounting criticisms, Abbas continues to insist that the PLO has the right to negotiate with Israel. He denies that he is planning to make far-reaching concessions to Israel in Annapolis and says that any peace agreement he might reach with Israel would then have to be ratified by a majority of Palestinians.

"Any agreement will be put into effect only after it has been ratified, either through a referendum, where everyone, including Hamas, can express their opinion, or through the approval of the Palestinian National Council, which represents the Palestinian people," said Abbas.

+++JORDAN TIMES 2-3 Nov.'07: "Voices of discord emerge within Hamas", By Adel Zaanoun, Agence France-Presse

QUOTE: "'To the international community, Hamas presents itsself as a pragmatic movement, but to its grassroots and Palestinian public opinion it poses as a divine movement refusing any concession  or compomise' "
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EXCERPTS:

 

GAZA CITY - Signs of discord have emerged between hardcore radicals and pragmatists in Hamas after the Palestinian Islamist movement's capture of the Gaza Strip, analysts said on Nov.1.

Last month, Ismail Haniyeh, who headed two successive Hamas-led governments ... said that Hamas rule in Gaza was temporary.Haniyeh also said serious efforts were being made to relaunch dialogue with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fateh Party, whose forces were overrun in Hamas' seizure of Gaza in June.

At odds with official Hamas policy, Haniyeh's personal spokesman Ghazi Hamad evoked possible negotiations with Israel in an opinion piece published in the Palestinian press last month.Hamas released a statement saying it did not reflect the party line.

Press reports said afterwards that Hamas had even suspended Hamad and Ahmed Yussef, Haniya's political adviser who had also criticised the party's hardliners.

But if Haniya and Hamad point to a certain pragmatic strand within Hamas, one of its other top Gaza leaders, Nizar Rayan, this week doused any hope of imminent reconciliation between bitter Palestinian enemies.

Known for his vitriol, Rayan on Monday vowed at a rally in the Gaza Strip that Hamas would also seize control of the West Bank, predicting a rapid overthrow of the elected Palestinian president.

His comments embarrassed the Hamas leadership, which openly favours dialogue between Fateh and Hamas.

"This was a personal comment made in haste. We want to declare that we reject and do not accept any kind of incitement against either Hamas or the Palestinian Authority," Farraj Rumana said on Wednesday.

A Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip, Fawzi Barhoum, also distanced the party from Rayan's comments.

"During meetings with supporters, some leaders can get carried away and we have a remedy for that. Only official statements reflect the positions of the movement," he told AFP.

If Mahmoud Zahar - who was foreign minister in the first Hamas-led government - is generally considered the head of the most radical wings within the group, Haniya is seen as one of the most pragmatic.

It was Hamas' entry into government after the January 2006 election that lies at the heart of the differences, said political science professor Naji Shurrab at Al Azhar University in Gaza City.

"Because he was the head of two governments, Ismail Haniya passes as leader of the moderate current endowed with a pragmatic vision," he said.

Far from weakening Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist organisation boycotted by Israel and the West, the contradictions could help its public relations campaign, says political analyst Mokheimar Abu Saada.

"To the international community Hamas presents itself as a pragmatic movement but to its grassroots and Palestinian public opinion, it poses as a divine movement refusing any concession or compromise," he said.

"The two currents exist well and good but it's the radical trend that always has the last word," he said.

Another leading Hamas member Ismail Radwan denied any "talk of radicalism and moderation" within a movement that has traditionally projected unity.
"There are certainly differing points of view but that does not degenerate into quarrels or dissension," he said.

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Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA
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IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
Website: http://www.imra.org.il