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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brumar89 who wrote (59018)	11/26/2002 7:11:27 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Interesting note from the Israeli papers -- worried Fatah officials are urging Arafat to take on Hamas before it's too late. However, I should note that Arafat has always run scared of confronting Hamas and there's little reason to believe he would change now that he's in a weaker position: Fatah urges PA to confront Hamas By LAMIA LAHOUD Fatah officials have called upon the Palestinian Authority to take a political decision to reassert its authority on the ground, even if that means confronting Hamas. The IDF on Monday published a seized Hamas document indicating that the Islamic movement wants to weaken the PA and replace it. "The time for statements is over, now we must take actions to show to Hamas there is only one authority - the PA," a PA security officer said. However, a Palestinian official said talks between Fatah and Hamas were continuing in Gaza despite last Thursday's suicide attack by Hamas on a Jerusalem bus and the publication of the document. Fatah will likely return to the talks in Cairo after Ramadan, since the Egyptians have requested another round of talks aimed at convincing Hamas to end attacks on Israeli civilians, the official added. " There are some in Fatah and the security establishment, including [former Gaza Preventive Security chief] Muhammad Dahlan, who have long argued that there is no use in talking to Hamas and that the PA should use the stick... But in the present situation the PA leadership does not believe it can confront Hamas without creating outrage among the people," a PA source said. Hamas denied it intends to replace the PA and accused Israel of fabricating the document. However, Fatah and PA sources said they believe the document is genuine and confirms their own suspicions that Hamas agreed to engage in the Cairo talks to further undermine the PA, gain international legitimacy and recognition, and eventually replace the PA. According to the Hamas document seized by the IDF at the Gaza offices of the Palestinian Preventive Security Service, Egypt was considering Hamas as an alternative to the PA. Fatah officials did not rule out that Egypt, Europe, and even the US are "exploring the possibility" of recognizing Hamas as an alternative to the PA. The Fatah and PA officials believe Hamas has emerged as the only winner in the talks between Fatah and Hamas hosted by Egypt, which are also being attended by the EU security advisor Alister Crook. Hamas has not made any commitments at the talks, and probably carried out Thursday's suicide attack to show to everybody that they have not agreed to stop attacks on Israelis, according to Ziad Abu Amr, a Fatah legislator from Gaza. Hamas has made impossible demands in return for a truce, he said. It demanded that the PA refrain from collecting weapons from its members and refrain from arresting its members. It also demanded that Israel stop targeting its members, he added. Abu Amr said he doubts the Americans are seriously exploring the possibility of installing Hamas as an alternative to the PA, since "the US probably learned form its bad experiences in Afghanistan," where it backed Islamic extremists in their fight against the Soviet army and later became the target of these same fundamentalists - the Taliban and al-Qaida. Like other Fatah official and PA sources, he blamed PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's reluctance to take measures against Hamas for the present situation. "The effect of this indecisiveness to take a political decision [to impose the rule of law and a cease-fire and reform the PA] has led to the loss of image and prestige of the PA internally and internationally," Abu Amr said. jpost.com