<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Zahhar: Abbas should implement or scrap unity&nbsp;deal]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p><img src="https://i0.wp.com/www.maannews.net/images/PhotoViewer/68460.jpg"></p>
<p>Maan News Agency | Sept 2, 2011</p>
<p>BETHLEHEM (Ma&#8217;an) &#8212; Senior Hamas figure Mahmoud Zahhar said Thursday that President Mahmoud Abbas must take decisive steps to implement or scrap the reconciliation deal agreed between his party and the president&#8217;s Fatah movement.</p>
<p>Slamming the status quo, where May&#8217;s agreement lingers without its provisions coming into force, Zahhar told the official Egyptian MENA news agency &#8220;Abbas must say: &#8216;I will implement what was agreed upon in relation to the reconciliation or I don&#8217;t want to implement it.'&#8221;</p>
<p>The Gaza-based Hamas official said reconciliation was being held up by the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority&#8217;s excuses over US threats to withdraw finances, and Israel&#8217;s warnings it will void the Oslo Accords which established limited Palestinian self-rule.</p>
<p>He elaborated the party&#8217;s objections to current Ramallah-based Prime Minister Salam Fayyad leading the unity government envisioned in the deal. Fayyad &#8220;runs an illegitimate and unelected cabinet, he cooperated with Israel on security matters and Palestinian detainees are still in prison,&#8221; Zahhar told MENA.</p>
<p>The candidate to lead a new cabinet uniting the administrations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which split when tensions between Fatah and Hamas exploded in 2007, has been a central point of contention since the deal was signed.</p>
<p>Other provisions, such as the release of political prisoners locked up in the four years of hostility between the factions, and the establishment of national elections, have also stalled.</p>
<p>Zahhar told MENA that Fatah&#8217;s insistence on Fayyad&#8217;s premiership &#8220;violates what was agreed between the parties.&#8221;</p>
<p>He slammed the prime minister for the current financial crisis of the PA, saying &#8220;Fayyad handed us debts reaching $1.7 billion and now he talks about $4 billion &#8230; he is no good for prime minister.&#8221;</p>
<p>Fatah and Hamas officials said in August that work towards implementing the deal would re-start after the Eid al-Fitr holiday, which concluded Thursday.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417233">Source</a></p>
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