Hamas political chief Khaled Meshaal has opposed Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’s referendum call, protesting that it would annul the results of the January elections, in an interview published on Thursday.
”This matter represents a nullification of the legislative institution and an annulment of the outcome of the elections,” Meshaal told the Qatari daily al-Watan.
Abbas dropped a political bombshell last week when he announced he would call a referendum in 10 days to endorse a programme drawn up by imprisoned faction leaders unless the Palestinian factions settled their differences.
Two days of talks between the moderate Abbas’s Fatah faction and the radical Islamic movement Hamas, which formed the Palestinian government after winning the elections, ended last Friday without a major breakthrough.
But they agreed to set up a ”higher committee” to intensify efforts to reach common ground.
The document at the centre of the possible referendum advocates a national unity government and Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, including east Jerusalem.
Meshaal said the elections, in which Hamas brought to an end a decade of Fatah domination of Palestinian politics, ”were held in a fair way and were monitored by the whole world”.
”It does not make sense to talk about going back to the street, which has already expressed its opinion few months ago,” the Damascus-based leader added.
While Abbas is committed to negotiating a two-state peace settlement, Hamas remains committed to Israel’s destruction — a stance that has seen it boycotted and branded a terrorist organisation by the West.
The European Union and United States have both frozen aid to the Palestinian Authority since Hamas’s win. — AFP
