From JPost, Feb. 17, 2006 By ORLY HALPERN ...
In the opening session of the new Hamas-majority Palestinian Legislative Council, Abdul Aziz Dweik, the newly-elected Hamas Speaker of Parliament promised that Hamas would try to fulfill its "rightful duty to resist occupation."
His words came less than an hour after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah called on the people to use peaceful means of resistance and told the new government to accept the agreements previously made with Israel.
The two speeches laid out the conflicting programs of Hamas and Fatah, and presented a challenge for the future government. Hamas's leaders have stated support for armed resistance "to end the occupation," although they have generally abided by a one-year truce. Hamas has further called for a review of all agreements made with Israel, and has said that negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority were futile.
Nevertheless, Abbas retains a range of powers, including over much of the armed forces. Yet Hamas holds a majority in the PLC with 74 seats and will be forming the cabinet.
...However, several Hamas legislators said the group would not agree to negotiations with Israel. Mushir al-Masri, a leading Hamas legislator in Gaza said after Abbas's speech that negotiations with Israel are "not on our agenda....We re-emphasise the commitment to [armed] resistance as a natural right of our people." ......
AP contributed to this report.
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