ABBAS SLAMS HAMAS IN OPENING OF PLO CENTRAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L JERUSALEM 001499

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

OPS PLEASE PASS TO THE SECRETARY'S PARTY; NEA FOR FRONT
OFFICE; NSC FOR ABRAMS/SINGH/WATERS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/19/2017
TAGS: KWBG PGOV IS PREL PTER
SUBJECT: ABBAS SLAMS HAMAS IN OPENING OF PLO CENTRAL
COUNCIL SESSION

REF: A. JERUSALEM 1295

B. JERUSALEM 1297

Classified By: Consul General Jake Walles, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (SBU) Summary. In a strongly-worded speech to the PLO
Central Council (PLO CC) on July 18, President Mahmud Abbas
(Abu Mazen) rejected dialogue with "Hamas mutineers" and
called for Hamas leaders to be punished for taking over PA
institutions in Gaza. He also called for early presidential
and PLC elections. The PLO CC speaker scheduled discussion
on changes to the electoral system. The PLO CC is also
expected to endorse President Abbas' emergency decrees and PM
Salam Fayyad's government. Hamas spokesmen attacked
President Abbas' comments, called the PLO CC an
unrepresentative and illegitimate institution, and rejected
calls for early elections. The meeting will continue on July

19. End summary.


Abbas Calls for Hamas to "Be Punished,"
Hamas Responsible for Gaza Suffering
--------------


2. (SBU) President Abbas rejected dialogue with Hamas
"mutineers" and called for Hamas leaders to be punished in
his opening remarks to the PLO Central Council (PLO CC) in
Ramallah on July 18. Abbas said Hamas is responsible for the
closure of the Rafah crossing and the resulting suffering,
and Hamas leaders "endeavor every day to justify their
criminal conduct in the name of religion, while they plan to
attain unworthy, contemptible goals." He also called for
early presidential and PLC elections, "without waiting for
directives from Hamas leaders living abroad or those in
Palestine." (Note: The Central Council is a 115-member,
mid-level PLO decision-making body, filling the niche between
the 14-member Executive Committee (ExComm),which meets
regularly, and the much larger Palestinian National Council
(PNC),which has not met since December 1998. End note).

PLO CC to Take Up New
Constitution, Elections Reforms
--------------


3. (SBU) PLO CC/PNC Speaker Salim Zanun called for the
body's legal committee to draft "a constitution for the state
of Palestine that would supersede the PA Basic Law,"
revisiting draft versions drawn up in 2003. In conjunction
with this project, PLO CC members told the press that they
expect to discuss replacing the current electoral system
(mixed constituency and proportional) with 100-percent
proportional representation. The PLO CC is also expected to
endorse President Abbas' decrees and PM Salam Fayyad's
government July 19, and issue statements critical of Hamas.

Hamas Criticizes Abbas Remarks
--------------


4. (SBU) Hamas spokesmen criticized President Abbas'
comments, calling them abusive and inappropriate, and said
early elections would be illegal and impossible without a
national agreement. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the
PLO CC is an "illegitimate institution" that does not
represent all Palestinian factions, and "Hamas is facing a
conspiracy aimed at targeting Hamas and its leaders, in which
the Palestinian Authority is a partner." He added that
"Hamas considers very seriously the President's declarations
about the need to punish Hamas, and his words that (Hamas')
leaders have dug their graves by their own hands."

Comment
--------------


5. (C) President Abbas and the PLO CC are aware that early
elections are not currently feasible. The discussion of
early elections is intended to blunt charges that Abbas is
governing undemocratically and to present Hamas as the
obstacle to the democratic process. The vehemence of Abbas'
remarks is a clear indication that he does not plan to resume
dialogue with Hamas. The effort to amend the elections law
to make it more favorable to Fatah (through 100-percent
proportional representation) will make it even less likely
that Hamas will agree to elections in the near term.
WALLES