Hamas suspends talks with Fatah

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-01-27 09:24

The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) announced on Friday night that it suspended all coalition talks with Fatah movement because of continued infighting, Al-Jazeera Arabic TV channel reported.


Palestinian Hamas supporters attend a Hamas rally marking the first anniversary of its election victory in the northern Gaza Strip January 26, 2007. Rival Palestinian factions clashed in Gaza on Friday, killing two people, as the Islamist Hamas movement marked the first anniversary of its election victory over the once-dominant Fatah.[Reuters]
Ismail Radwan, a Hamas spokesman, was quoted by the channel as saying that Hamas had said it would suspend talks with the rival Fatah movement on forming a coalition government after dozens of casualties caused in new clashes.

"Following the awful massacres committed today in Gaza and northern Gaza, we have decided to postpone all dialogue with Fatah," the spokesman noted.

The channel earlier reported that Hamas gunmen stormed a house of a Fatah leader in the northern Gaza Strip, but the man was not harmed.

According to witnesses, Hamas gunmen had surrounded the house, accusing the Fatah leader of involvement in a deadly shooting of two Hamas activists earlier in the day, and wanted to arrest him.

Over the past 24 hours, the infighting of Palestinian factions between Hamas and Fatah has continued in which at least 10 persons dead and some 20 others injured.

The death toll is the highest in internal Palestinian violence in a single spurt of violence since Hamas' rise to power a year ago.

However, earlier report also said that delegates from rival Hamas and Fatah movements agreed on Friday night with Palestinian interior minister in Hamas-led government Said Siam to end fighting and form a committee of investigation.



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