Fatah’s call for elections is a distraction tactic

Leading member of Islamist Palestinian movement Hamas, Salah Al Bardawil, has dismissed a recent meeting between its political rival ?Fatah with Hamas leaders as an attempt by Fatah to divert attention from the “scandal” of its return to negotiations with the Israel. Sunday’s meeting in the Gaza Strip, which came about at Fatah’s request, brought together Fatah’s delegation visiting Gaza Strip, led by the Secretary ?General of its Revolutionary Council Amin Makbul, and a delegation from ?Hamas represented by the leader Imad Al Alami. Fatah used the meeting to push for Palestinian general elections.? But in an exclusive interview with Arab Today, Bardawil dismissed the call as a ploy to paint Hamas as being against competing at the polls.   He said: “Fatah’s invitation to hold elections in these circumstances of un-readiness, given the resumption of negotiations, and knowing that they wouldn’t be ?held in Jerusalem because of the refusal of the [Israeli] occupation, is an attempt by Fatah to show Hamas’ ?rejection [of elections], and to use this invitation [to elections] to create noise and disputes to cover up of the ?secret negotiations being held with the occupation in exchange for financial bribes.”? However, the Hamas official added that reports that the Fatah-Hamas meeting was a failure were “inaccurate”. Clarifying Hamas’s position on going to the polls, he said the movement would “stick to implementing the reconciliation agreement signed ?between both sides. “Any election should be the coronation of the reconciliation agreement,” he said. Bardawil criticised Fatah’s call for elections for skipping steps in the reconciliation deal, which include rebuilding the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, forming a ?national unity government and putting an end to security coordination between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli ?occupation.? Issuing stronger criticism of the rival faction, the Hamas leader said: “Fatah leaders have no agency and are worthless,” describing the Palestinian ?President Mahmoud Abbas as a “dictator.”? He continued: “Fatah withdrew from reconciliation, and preferred the path of negotiations which it ?chose over [reconciliation] and sitting down with the Hamas movement.”? Bardawil said Hamas seeks to thwart plans to destroy the Palestinian cause, counting among them current Israel-Palestinian negotiations and the protection of the status quo, which he said ?some Fatah leaders were “offering as a gift to the Zionist enemy.”? In light of Egypt’s crackdown on the tunnels in Sinai connecting it with neighbouring Gaza, Bardawil contested: “the borders between the Gaza strip and Egypt are totally secured from [Gaza’s] side, and ?no one is allowed to enter the Sinai region through smuggling.”? Baradawil attributed the closure of the Rafah crossing to the security deterioration in Sinai,” ?hoping that “it would be opened as soon as possible in both directions and that it works in a broader ?way to alleviate the situation for the citizens of the Gaza Strip.”? He denied news reports that hundreds of people had crossed from Gaza into Sinai after ?the ouster of former Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi on July 3.? “Everything that has been spread about armed elements going from the Gaza Strip to areas in Sinai is totally ?untrue,” he said, accusing the authors of such reports of trying to create problems between ?Hamas and Egypt.? The claims were part of campaign of defamation against the Islamist movement, he said, adding: “The borders between the Gaza Strip and Egypt are 100 percent secure and no one ?could infiltrate Egypt through them, or vice versa.”? Baradawil wished safety and security for Egypt and reiterated that Hamas ?doesn’t interfere in Egyptian internal affairs.? Egyptian security services have not made any accusations along these lines, the Gazan official insisted, saying the accusations had come instead from some sections of the media.? The Hamas leader criticised statements made by Egypt’s diplomatic representative in Ramallah, saying: “The Egyptian Ambassador has the right to express the position of his country, but ?does he have the right to divide the Palestinian people into terrorists and non-terrorists according to ?the criteria that he sees? “We emphasise that our people are struggling for their rights, and are not a terrorist people. ?We reject his use of the same expressions used by Israelis”. He added: “His statement saying that the ?position of the [Palestinian] Authority represents the people lacks diplomatic decency, and he was encouraged by ?the position of the Authority which has sold the blood of its people.”? “We wish the authority wouldn’t interfere in Egyptian affairs in this explicit way, ?supporting the current regime after the massacres that have been committed, and are still being committed, against ?peaceful protesters who demanded restoring legitimacy,”? Bardawil continued. Bardawil said: “The position of the [Palestinian] Authority regarding the events in Egypt is unjustifiedly ?biased against the Egyptian people who protest peacefully to express their opinion,” adding that ??“the Authority doesn’t represent the Palestinian people after going fornegotiations, ?ignoring the rejection of all the factions of the people.”? He continued: “We in Hamas express our deep sorrow with every drop of Egyptian blood spilled, every ?body burnt and every place that is on fire. We are not asked to support one side at the expense of the ?other; we express our humanitarian position about what’s going on in Egypt.” “All ?the people in the Arab and Islamic worlds expressed their humanitarian position about what’s going ?on there. Don’t we have the right to express our opinion?”? he asked.