Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Wednesday accused Hamas'
exiled leader Khaled Meshaal, who is based in Damascus, of
involving in plotting assassination against him.
Abbas was addressing a tough speech before members of the
Central Council of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which
was held in this West Bank city to discuss the situation in the
Gaza Strip after Hamas militants controlled it.
Abbas revealed that he watched a videotape showing a group of
Hamas militants as they were discussing a plot to plant 250
kilograms of explosives on the route to his Gaza office during a
previous round of infighting last month.
Abbas claimed that Meshaal was to give the final instruction to
detonate the bomb as his convoy passed by to his office in Gaza
City.
"When I saw the video, I decided to cancel my visit to the Gaza
Strip the Middle of May," Abbas said, adding that his visit to Gaza
at that time was aiming to agree on a cease-fire with sacked Prime
Minister Ismail Haneya of Hamas.
Meanwhile, Abbas announced that the Hamas-controlled parliament
as disable and replaced it with the Fatah-dominated Palestinian
Central Council (PCC).
Abbas 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, says most of its
lawmakers have been abducted and held by Israel.
Abbas also ruled out any talk with Hamas, describing members of
the Islamic movement as murderers, coup seekers and outlaws.
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."
(Xinhua News Agency June 21, 2007)
