Abbas Signals Possible Shutdown of Hamas Groups

JERUSALEM (AP) – Envoys from America, European Union, Russia and the U.N. will meet Tuesday in Jerusalem for the first time since Islamic Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip, U.N. and Israeli officials said Friday.The meeting comes as moderate regional leaders try to use Hamas’ takeover of the chaotic territory to try to promote peacemaking between Israel and moderate Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank lead by President Abbas of Fatah. But deposed Palestinian Prime Minister Haniyeh, Hamas’ leader, warned Friday that his movement could not be ignored.As part of the international efforts, Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian and Jordanian leaders will get together on Monday in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik to discuss prospects for resuming peace talks that have been effectively stalled for seven years.Efforts to restart the peace process have been complicated by the emergence of two Palestinian governments: one led by the Iranian-backed Hamas in Gaza and the other by Western-backed Fatah in the West Bank.MoA higher-level meeting of officials from the Quartet – America, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations – was to take place Monday, but that session was delayed to allow time to assess changes in the region following Hamas’ violent takeover of Gaza last week.A U.N. spokesman in Jerusalem, Brenden Varma, said the officials gathering in Jerusalem on Tuesday would be “comparing notes.”In Moscow, Sergei Yakovlev, a Russian Foreign Ministry envoy for Middle East peacemaking, said officials “will discuss the situation in the region, the talks for the Quartet and plans of action for the future,” Russia’s Interfax news agency reported.In Gaza City on Friday, Mr. Haniyeh said Fatah would not be able to exclude Hamas when determining the future of the Palestinian people, and he derided international attempts to sideline the Islamic group.“There is a big force that nobody can wipe out,” Mr. Haniyeh said in his weekly Friday sermon, referring to Hamas.Hamas spokesman Salah Bardawil said the Islamic group would not back down in its efforts to establish a Palestinian state “in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip on the 1967 borders … with Jerusalem as its capital” – referring to the territories Israel captured that year in the Mideast war.In a sign Mr. Abbas may shut down Hamas-affiliated groups in the West Bank, the president on Friday authorized the government to review all private organizations.Mr. Abbas’ decree asked the interior minister to review the legal status of all non-governmental organizations, or NGOs. It also gave these groups a week to reregister.In related news, a top Fatah security commander resigned Friday over his failure to prevent the Hamas takeover of Gaza, Palestinian officials said.Officials in Mr. Abbas’ office who confirmed Rashid Abu Shbak’s resignation spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.Abu Shbak was despised by Hamas for his role in crackdowns against the Islamic group. But he also came under fierce criticism from his own men after Fatah’s forces collapsed in Gaza last week under an onslaught from the vastly outnumbered Hamas.Also Friday, the Israeli army allowed seven trucks of medical supplies, milk and animal feed into the Gaza Strip. Israel began allowing supplies to enter the coastal territory on Wednesday after the United Nations warned that a “serious humanitarian crisis” would develop if crossings that had been closed during the Fatah-Hamas fighting were not opened.___AP correspondents Diaa Hadid in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, and Ibrahim Barzak in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed to this report.

Abbas Signals Possible Shutdown of Hamas Groups

Abbas Signals Possible Shutdown of Hamas Groups

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