By Xinhua
Ramallah : Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement on Thursday urged rival Hamas to pave the way for a national dialogue instead of sending indirect truce offers to Israel.
Ahmed Abdel Rahman, Fatah spokesman, made the call after deposed Hamas premier Ismail Haneya “begs Israel for a ceasefire and that a Hamas journalist has taken the initiative to reach a calmness deal with a Jew Rabbi” from a West Bank settlement.
Hamas’ truce initiatives aim at “protecting its leaders’ heads from Israel and they don’t think of protecting the homeland”, saidAbdel Rahman.
“If Hamas was serious about Gaza’s fate, it would have given up the coup,” he added.
Last June, Hamas took over the Gaza Strip after routing pro-Abbas security forces in fierce fighting. Since then, Israel increased attacks in the strip alongside an unprecedented closure. Recently, Israel threatened to assassinate Hamas leaders in response to the rockets that armed groups launch from the Hamas-ruled Gaza into southern Israel.
A spokesman for Hamas’s administration said on Wednesday that reaching a state of calmness “was in Israel’s court and subject to its behavior.”
“The Palestinian people will not offer any free ceasefire in the shadow of Israeli aggressions and they will not bow before extortion or threats,” said Taher al-Nounou, spokesman for the sacked Hamas government.