Middle East

Abbas refuses talk with Hamas

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-06-21 01:28

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ruled out any talk with Hamas on Wednesday in Ramallah, describing members of the Islamic movement as murderers and outlaws.

Abbas also announced the Hamas-controlled parliament as disable and replaced it with the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Central Council (PCC).

Abbas' remarks were made before the PCC which convened in Ramallah in the day to discuss the latest incident in the Gaza Strip, which ended with Hamas capturing all the Palestinian Authority buildings in the strip.

As part of the fighting which ended by Hamas taking over Gaza Strip, Abbas revealed a Hamas plan to assassinate him when he was in Gaza.

"I got a video tape showing six people dragging an explosive device and saying this was for Abu Mazen (Abbas)," the Palestinian president said.

Abbas also accused Hamas of blocking the work of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) for more than six months.

But Hamas, which won parliamentary elections in early 2006, said most of its lawmakers were abducted and held by Israel.

After its landslide victory, Hamas has involved in power- struggle with Fatah, leaving scores of Palestinians dead while local and Arab-sponsored deals failed repeatedly.

Following Gaza's fall into Hamas on June 14, Abbas dissolved the Fatah-Hamas unity government, which took office on March 17.

On Sunday, Abbas swore in an emergency cabinet without Hamas in Ramallah, which was rejected by Hamas as "illegitimate."