Hamas MPs meet, slam unity government

Hamas MPs in Gaza hold an exclusive meeting on Wednesday apparently defying the Palestinian Authority and criticize president Mahmoud Abbas, in a further sign of a failing unity pact.

They are meeting for the first time since the April unity deal, which ostensibly put an end to years of infighting between Gaza rulers Hamas and Abbas’s Fatah party.

Even months after Hamas and the Fatah-dominated PLO — which in turn dominates the PA — appointed a mutually-agreed central government, disputes that emerged shortly after the deal appear to be worsening.

“Neither the president nor anyone else can forbid parliament from meeting,” Hamas MP Salah al-Bardaweel says in a symbolic statement.

Hamas holds 78 of the Palestinian parliament’s 132 seats, and 25 of its MPs live in the Gaza Strip. Another 20 non-Hamas MPs live in Gaza, but did not attend the meeting.

Last year’s reconciliation pact was meant to pave the way for Palestinian general elections by the end of 2014, and to hand over control of Gaza in the interim from Hamas to the unity government, which took oath early June.

But there have been no sign of elections or a real transfer of power, despite Hamas’ stated willingness to relinquish its authority.

Senior Hamas leader Mahmud Zahar, also present, says the new government was a “failure.”

“We send a clear message: either the government must take up its responsibilities or resign,” he says.

Zahar blames Abbas specifically for failing to get a resolution passed at the UN Security Council last month that called for an Israeli forced withdrawal from the West Bank .

After the unity deal was signed, Hamas immediately demanded the new government pay the salaries of the 50,000 civil servants Hamas recruited after its takeover of Gaza in 2007, who took the jobs of 70,000 Fatah employees.

Partial payments of $1,200 each were made to 24,000 Hamas civil servants in late October. But the other 26,000, who work in security functions, have received nothing.

Hundreds of Hamas employees began a sit-in in front of the headquarters of the unity government in Gaza on Tuesday, vowing to stay until their salaries are paid.

Hamas MP Yahya Mussa says at Wednesday’s meeting that “Abbas and his government are committing a crime against Gaza workers.”

— AFP