Hamas: Abbas after a power grab

The Palestinian Hamas Movement has accused Mahmoud Abbas of harming the Palestinian nation's rights by means of power grabbing attempts to control the Palestinian political arena.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum leveled accusations of deceit against the acting Palestinian Authority Chief, adding that Abbas lied about his intention not to run for election.

"If Abbas had been sincere, he would not have five positions including the presidency of the Palestinian Authority (PA), Fatah and the Palestine liberation organization (PLO)," Barhoum was quoted as saying by the Palestinian Information Center.

The Hamas official also underlined that Abbas is adamant to eradicate the Palestinian resistance and his political opponents while staying loyal to the so-called Mideast peace process. This is while the American administration and Israel have turned their backs on him and backtracked on promises they had made during a tripartite meeting in the United States regarding settlement expansion.

According to the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), the meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas and US President Barack Obama was just another chance for Israel to keep stalling the implementation of its own obligations.

Under the 2002 Roadmap for the Peace plan brokered by the United States, the European Union, the United Nations, and Russia, Israel has to dismantle settlement outposts erected since 2001 and also freeze all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Hamas and Fatah have long been wrangling with each other over substantial discords which have caused real bottlenecks to mend fences and repair the internal Palestinian divisions. Egypt, meanwhile, has been trying for months to get the opposing Palestinian factions to sign a reconciliation deal. The latest Cairo proposal aims to lay the groundwork for new presidential and legislative elections next summer.