Abbas sets date for referendum
(AP)
Updated: 2006-06-11 10:07
Moderate President Mahmoud Abbas, defying the Hamas militants who run the
government, said Saturday that Palestinians would vote next month on whether to
establish a state alongside Israel, effectively recognizing the Jewish nation.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
holds Palestinian girl Houda Ghalia as he meets her in his office in Gaza
City, Saturday, June 10, 2006. The 10-year-old girl was one of the only
members of her family of 15 to emerge unscathed from the devastating
impact of what Palestinians said was Israeli artillery hitting a
beach-side picnic Friday.[AP] | Hamas immediately
rejected the notion of the July 26 referendum, which is expected to win a clear
majority despite rising anger at Israel and increased infighting between the
militants and Abbas' Fatah movement.
Hamas fighters battled Abbas loyalists in Gaza and fired rockets and mortars
at Israel, ending a 16-month truce after an explosion blamed on Israeli shelling
Friday killed eight people and wounded dozens at a seaside family picnic.
"We have to rule out the idea of a referendum," Palestinian Prime Minister
Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said.
Abbas said the vote could be called off if the sides reach agreement on the
document, which was written by prominent Palestinian militants jailed by Israel
and calls for a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza.
Establishing the state in those lands, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast
War, would be an implicit recognition of Israel.
Abbas denounced the deaths of the Gaza beachgoers but brushed off Hamas' call
to put off the vote due to the renewed violence. He said accepting the
referendum would help the Palestinians achieve their dream of statehood and end
a debilitating international aid boycott imposed after Hamas' rise to power.
"When we reach an agreement over the prisoners' document, the siege will
end," Abbas said.
Later, Abbas and Haniyeh met in Gaza along with Hamas Interior Minister Said
Siyam. Abbas' spokesman said the president made clear to Haniyeh that the
referendum would be held as planned, despite the prime minister's opposition.
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