Hamas slams Annapolis, vows to keep fighting Israel
Pastor Dale Morgan
Hamas slams Annapolis, vows to keep fighting Israel*
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
Reuters
Monday, November 26, 2007; 9:47 AM
GAZA (Reuters) - Vowing to go on fighting the "Zionist enemy," Hamas
called Mahmoud Abbas the worst leader in Palestinian history on Monday
and said he had no right to make concessions to Israel at the Annapolis
peace conference.
Speaking at an "anti-Annapolis" conference in Gaza, leaders of the
Islamist group which seized the enclave from Abbas's forces in June said
the president did not represent the Palestinian people and vowed never
to recognize Israel.
"Let the whole world hear us -- we will not cede an inch of Palestine
and we will never recognize Israel," Hamas's Gaza leader Ismail Haniyeh
told the meeting of about 1,000 people, including representatives from
some other Palestinian factions.
Hamas's seizure of control of Gaza, prompted Abbas, whose rival Fatah
faction holds sway in the West Bank, to sack Haniyeh as prime minister
and open negotiations, with U.S. sponsorship, that could lead to a
Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Hamas, shunned by the West for refusing to renounce violence, was not
invited to Tuesday's conference in Annapolis.
Israel, which views Gaza as an "enemy entity" and launches regular raids
into the territory to curb rocket attacks, killed a Hamas militant and
wounded four in a missile strike on Monday.
Hamas said it would hold a second "alternative" conference in Damascus
on Tuesday. Its exiled leader Khaled Meshaal is based in the Syrian
capital but Syria blocked previous Hamas efforts to hold a gathering
there and is sending its own representative to the U.S.-hosted talks
with Israel in Maryland.
Hamas leaders also urged Palestinians to hold protests against the peace
push. In the West Bank, Abbas's Information Minister Riyad al-Malki
announced a ban on such rallies.
Hamas leaders have offered a long-term truce with Israel in return for a
Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip. But the
Islamist group continues to say it will not formally recognize Israel
and its 1988 founding charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish
state."
"We believe what has been taken by force can only be returned by force,"
senior Hamas figure Osama al-Muzaini said.
Another Hamas official, Fawzi Barhoum, said Abbas -- also known as Abu
Mazen -- had presided over his people's worst days: "Palestinian history
has witnessed no era worse than that when Abu Mazen headed the
Palestinian Authority," he said.
Earlier on Monday, Hamas lawmakers signed a document vowing not to give
up their claim to land from which Palestinians fled, or were forced to
flee, when Israel was established in 1948.
"We say (to Abbas) that any concessions will not be binding on our
people and on future generations," said Haniyeh.
(Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta in Ramallah; Editing by Keith Weir)