HAMAS BLEW CHANCE TO END SANCTIONS

'Hamas blew chance to end sanctions' (JPost)

Hamas has squandered an opportunity to end the international sanctions imposed on the Palestinian Authority, EU Foreign Policy chief Javier Solana said Saturday.  Hamas, for its part, accused PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas of succumbing to US and Israeli pressure to halt talks with the Islamist movement over the formation of a unity government and warned against staging a "coup" against the Hamas-led government.

"I can say that Hamas had an offer by the president [Abbas] and I think it was a very generous offer," Solana told reporters after meeting with Abbas in Gaza City. "It is an offer that would have resolved many of the problems facing the Palestinian people, and unfortunately that offer has not been accepted."

While Abbas was holding meetings with European officials, hundreds of PA police fought with a local clan for six hours in the streets of Gaza City near Abbas's official residence, security officials said. Eleven people were wounded in the gunbattle. Solana praised Abbas for his efforts and assured him that the EU would support him as he explored other means of ending the crisis. "[Abbas] has made a tremendous effort to try and build the possibility of a national unity government," Solana said. "It has been difficult and it has been impossible and therefore he has to take another decision, and I can say very clearly that he can count on us in those decisions." Referring to the breakdown of the unity government talks between Abbas and Hamas, Solana said, "We believe that the responsibility for this failure is not on the president. It is the failure of the others."

At the press conference with Solana, Abbas expressed regret over the failure of the unity talks, saying he was "studying options that would end our people's suffering." Although Abbas did not specify the options he was considering, his aides said he had no choice but to dismiss the Hamas-led government and form a new one.