国际英语新闻：PNA calls for holding elections on time if Hamas delays reconciliation pact

RAMALLAH/GAZA, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian National Authority (PNA) officials on Saturday accused Hamas movement of temporizing an inter-reconciliation, saying the only solution to the crisis is to hold the general presidential and legislative elections in the Palestinian territories on time.

    Tayeb Abdul Rahim, the Palestinian presidency's secretary-general, told a news conference in Ramallah that Hamas movement "is temporizing and escaping from signing the reconciliation pact, so it wants to deepen the rift as it implements a non-Palestinian agenda that never serves our people's interests."

    "If Hamas continues to postpone or delay signing on the reconciliation pact, I believe that the only solution is to call for general elections on the decided constitutional date, which will be on Jan. 25, 2010," said Abdul Rahim. But Hamas said it won't accept holding elections before signing the pact.

    According to the PNA constitution, President Mahmoud Abbas should issue a decree on Oct. 25, three months before holding the elections, to declare a date for the elections. It is not clear whether Abbas will hold elections on time, postpone it for six months, or leave it without setting up a specific date.

    Last Saturday, Egypt presented a 25-page comprehensive pact for inter-Palestinian reconciliation to all Palestinian factions, including rival Fatah and Hamas, and asked them to unilaterally sign on it before October 20. Fatah movement officials said on Thursday they accepted and signed the pact.

    However, Gaza-based Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha told reporters that a senior Hamas delegation will arrive in Cairo on Sunday to hand over Egypt Hamas' response to the Egyptian-drafted pact, adding that "Hamas has no reservations, but would ask for adding some points that were not mentioned."

    "Hamas has been inventing pretexts to escape from signing the pact. Once it said because of a vote on a UN fact-finding report, another time it said its prisoners should be released, now it says the text of the pact has to be corrected. Hamas is simply wasting our time," said Abdul Rahim.

    Ahmed Yousef, a deputy in the deposed ministry of Hamas foreign affairs, told reporters that "after long debates and discussions that will end on Saturday, (we) will hand over the drafted pact of reconciliation to Egypt on Saturday with some small notes on it."

    "Hamas hasn't opposed the pact, but we need clarifications from the Egyptian side on certain points," said Yousef, adding the pact must not be committed to the international Quartet conditions, mainly the one that calls for recognizing the state of Israel.

    Abdul Rahim and Yasser Abed Rabbo, Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) executive committee secretary general told reporters in two separate news conferences in Ramallah that the only solution for Hamas attempts to escape from signing the pact is to hold the general elections on time.

    "We won't accept any more notes, reservations, adjustments or time extension. Accepting the reconciliation pact should be now, but if Hamas doesn't sign the pact soon, President Mahmoud Abbas will declare on Oct. 25 that the elections will be held on Jan. 25,2010," said Abed Rabbo.

    But Yousef said that "we want guarantees that if Hamas wins in the upcoming elections, no embargo will be imposed on it," adding that "also any new government formed after the elections should gain a full Arab support." Hamas also demands Egypt to permanently open Rafah border crossing.

    The Egyptian drafted pact doesn't include or demand a commitment to any of the Quartet's conditions. It calls for holding presidential and legislative elections on June 28, 2010 instead of January 25. Egypt earlier announced that it would delay the official declaration of the pact until further notice.

    Egypt, which drafted the pact in coordination with Fatah, Hamas and other factions, throughout six months of marathon dialogue, decided to ask each faction to first unilaterally sign the pact. An official ceremony will be held in Cairo at the end of November, where factions' leaders will sign the pact.

    Meanwhile, senior Hamas leader in Gaza Salah al-Bardaweel told Xinhua that his movement "is keen to reach a reconciliation agreement and end the internal rift that has been going on for a long time." Al-Bardaweel declined to reveal in details what will be Hamas response to Egypt on Sunday.

    However, Hamas government's spokesman Taher al-Nounou told Xinhua that Hamas response to the Egyptian drafted pact for Palestinian reconciliation "will be positive but it will have some substantive notes," adding "we hope that these notes will be clarified and resolved in order to achieve reconciliation."