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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Hamas, Jihad reject Fayyad plan for de facto state |
| 2009-08-28 |
| Ma'an -- Hamas and Islamic Jihad rejected caretaker Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's plan to establish a de facto Palestinian state within two years, arguing that "resistance" is the only way to establish a Palestinian state. Fayyad's 65-page plan deepens "the reality of [Palestinian] division and the presence of the Israeli occupation. This fulfills the desire of the occupation in line with the policy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu," said Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum. "Fayyad is not authorized to make determine the political course for the Palestinian people ... Fayyad's government is not legitimate because he believes in coordination and negotiation with the [Israeli] occupation," Barhoum added. "We have one path for our Palestinian state to be established. The only way to do so is through resistance and a state without settlements, when all detainees are released and the refugees are back to their homeland," he said. Fayyad, a US-educated economist was appointed as prime minister when Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007. He presented his plan to build up Palestinian government and economic institutions on Tuesday. The plan envisions state-building despite the ongoing Israeli occupation. Islamic Jihad leader Nafeth Azzam also said that he sees resistance, a term that encompasses armed resistance, as the only path to a Palestinian state. "This document has illogical points and others not that clear," Azzam said in an interview with Ma'an. The establishment of a state, he said, "is not easy at all especially that Israel is not giving Palestinians their simplest rights." |
| Posted by:Fred |