The Corner Report

Mahmoud Abbas

GAZA – Hamas warned that after Friday it will no longer recognize Mahmoud Abbas as Palestinian president, but said its top priority is countering the Israeli onslaught in Gaza.

A senior official in Hamas’ political wing, Musa Abu Marzouq, said in an interview on Sawt Al-Aqsa radio in Gaza that Abbas’ rule will no longer be legal under Palestinian law.

“The president’s term ends today [Friday]. [Because] we are living under exceptional circumstances, Hamas should set up other proriorties ,it has to put all internal differences aside to confront the offensive.”

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He also said, “We are not interested in the resolutions of the UN Security Council, because the involved party in Gaza was not consulted. We are not interested in this decision but if it was implemented then the involved sides should coordinate with the sides in the field.”

Abbas and the PA have not yet commented on the issue on Friday.

Until Friday, the Israeli offensive in Gaza had swept aside the partisan bickering between Hamas and Fatah.

Hamas has been locked in a power struggle with Abbas’ Fatah faction for years. Hamas won parliamentary elections in 2006. Abbas then fired a Hamas-Fatah unity government after Hamas seized power in the Gaza Strip in June 2007.

Until now, Hamas has recognized Abbas as the elected president while disputing the legitimacy of an emergency government the president appointed in 2007.

In mid 2008 Abbas’ government unilaterally decreed that the president’s term would be extended beyond it’s formal end-date of 9 January. Hamas rejected this move, citing the Palestinian Basic law.
Maan News