RAMALLAH, West Bank – A new parliament dominated by Hamas was sworn in Saturday, with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas asking the Islamic militant group to form the next government, but imploring them to honor existing peace deals and take the path of negotiations.
Hamas leaders rejected Abbas’ calls, but signaled a willingness to compromise.
In the battle for Palestinians’ political future, time is short and stakes are high. Israel is on the verge of imposing sanctions that would seal off the Gaza Strip.
Hooked up via video conferencing because Israel wouldn’t let them travel between the West Bank and Gaza, the new Palestinian lawmakers in the two territories took their oath of office collectively, reciting a prayer with upturned palms.
At the back of a meeting hall in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Hamas lawmakers – the men sporting traditional Muslim beards and the women in head scarves and long robes – held up portraits of fellow legislators sitting in Israeli jails.
Abbas, whose Fatah Party lost the Jan. 25 elections, urged the new legislature not to endanger diplomatic gains worked out over years of talks with Israel and the international community. Hamas controls 74 of parliament’s 132 seats.
“We, as a presidency and a government, will continue our commitment to the negotiation process as the sole political, pragmatic and strategic choice through which we reap the fruit of our struggle and sacrifices over the long decades,” Abbas said.
He reminded the new legislators “of the need to respect all signed agreements,” including the Oslo Accords of the 1990s that set up the Palestinian Authority.
Hamas leaders have said they would consider agreeing to a long-term truce if Israel withdraws from the West Bank and east Jerusalem, which it captured in the 1967 Mideast War.
The White House took a wait-and-see approach to the new Hamas-dominated parliament.
“Our position on Hamas has been quite clear on what they need to do. They must disarm, renounce violence and recognize Israel’s right to exist,” said National Security Council spokesman Frederick Jones. “We’ll still continue to watch closely and wait and see. We’ll see what approach they take as they govern.”
Israeli government spokesman Raanan Gissin said Israel will view the Palestinian Authority as a “hostile entity” unless Hamas accepts those conditions.
“These conditions are non-negotiable. It is not whether there will be a short-term cease-fire or a long-term cease-fire. It is not whether they want to eliminate us now or if they will wait 20 years to do it,” Gissin said.
“A democratic victory does not provide legitimacy or a quick dry-cleaning service to a terrorist organization.”
Meanwhile, two Palestinians stabbed and critically wounded a 45-year-old Israeli man late Saturday in the West Bank settlement of Maaleh Adumim, police spokesman Shlomi Saguy said. The man was found bleeding on the street and told police that he had been stabbed by two Palestinians, who then fled.
Abbas’ words were likely to set up a political showdown with Hamas, which has up to five weeks to form a government once it names a prime minister. It has not formally done so, although officials have said they would nominate Gaza leader Ismail Haniyeh.
If that government refuses to heed Abbas’ demand to recognize past peace accords and accept negotiations, then Abbas, as president of the Palestinian Authority and head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, has the right to dismiss it.
That in turn would almost certainly trigger a parliamentary crisis, or possibly new elections, because any alternative government would need the support of the Hamas-led parliament.
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