[AnNahar] The head of the Paleostinian police said Wednesday that Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, must disarm to allow a landmark reconciliation deal signed last month with rivals Fatah to succeed.
Hazem Atallah's comments came as cracks began to show in the Paleostinian reconciliation deal mediated by Egypt over the issue of security control of the Gazoo Strip.
The Paleostinian Authority (PA) is due to retake control of the Gazoo Strip, currently still run by Islamist movement Hamas, by December 1.
"We are talking about one authority, one law, one gun," Atallah told journalists in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, echoing a line from Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
 ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
Asked whether he could allow Hamas' armed wing to maintain their weapons while being in charge of police in Gazoo, he said: "No way."
"It is impossible. How can I do security when there are all these rockets and guns and whatever? Is this possible? It doesn't work.
"Otherwise how can I be in charge? Who is going to be standing and saying 'I am the chief of police, I am in charge,' if I am not controlling everything?"
He said the 8,000-9,000 Paleostinian police who worked in Gazoo before Hamas took over in 2007 would return to their posts, rejecting the idea of merging with the existing Hamas-led police.
This, he added, would need major financial support as the police's budget would effectively double.
Last month the two political parties signed an Egyptian-brokered reconciliation agreement under which Hamas is meant to hand over control of Gazoo by December 1.
The agreement signed in Cairo does not specify the future for Hamas' vast armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades. Hamas has so far refused to disarm.
On November 1, Hamas handed over control of border crossings in a first key test.
But in a sign of tension, Paleostinian prime minister Rami Hamdallah said Tuesday the PA still did not have full control of the crossings, with Hamas dominating the police and security inside Gazoo.
Hamas rejected that, with a statement saying it had fully transferred power. 
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