By NNN-KUNA
Ramallah : Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas denounced Hamas Wednesday, and declined to have dialogue with its leaders.
Speaking at a meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), an umbrella political group, in the West Bank town of Ramallah, he accused Hamas of trying to establish its own state in Gaza.
“There is no dialogue with those murderous terrorists,” Abbas said, referring to Hamas militants.
Abbas condemned Hamas as “murderous terrorists” and “coup plotters”, over the group’s takeover of Gaza last week. He ruled out talks with the Islamist group, a rival of his Fatah faction, but said the ongoing crisis should not prevent peace talks with Israel.
He revealed that he had recently received a videotape, showing a plot to assassinate him by Hamas activists. Last week, Hamas militants seized bases and government compounds in Gaza from rivals Fatah, which Abbas heads.
The coup plan is shortlived and has no future and will become part of a tragic painful memory at a very early date, he said.
Abbas said the takeover was a premeditated attack agreed with unspecified “foreign elements” in the region. “It is wrong to disparage the matter as a conflict between Fatah and Hamas. Rather, it is a conflict between the national project and the project of militias,” he added.
It was his toughest speech since the escalating violence in Gaza culminated in last week’s showdown, and left no room for misunderstanding his position on Hamas.
In the wake of the Gaza takeover, Abbas sacked the Palestinian government led by Prime Minister Ismail Haniya of Hamas, and replaced it with an emergency cabinet.
The president said talks with Israel should resume despite the crisis, calling on the international community to convene a conference to start peace talks. “The atmosphere is not preventing a start to negotiations,” he said.