[NYTr] Freed PFLP Leader Condemns Hamas Takeover of Gaza

[nytr at olm.blythe-systems.com]

Xinhua - Jul 21, 2007
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-07/21/content_6410793.htm

Freed PFLP leader blames Hamas over Gaza takeover

Xinhua

Ramallah -- A senior leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine (PFLP), newly released from Israeli prison, condemned the
Hamas Islamists on Saturday for seizing the Gaza Strip, calling for
early elections to overcome the crisis.

Speaking at a news conference in Ramallah, Abdel Rahim Malouh said "What
Hamas has done is completely condemned and should not have happened."

His leftist movement will look for serious dialogue after Hamas reviews
the mistake it made and agrees on elections and a new unity government,
Malouh said.

But he admitted that early elections can not be held without "minimum
understanding between Hamas and Fatah and both sides' readiness to
recognize the results of the polls." "I asked Hamas leadership to
retreat and Fatah leaders to maintain the Palestinian people's
interest," he said. Malouh, freed Friday after three and half years in
prison, also expressed discontent with the condition of his leftist
party and other factions, blaming it on the escalation of Hamas-Fatah
power struggle.

Malouh is among the 255 prisoners released on Friday by Israel as a
goodwill gesture aimed at bolstering President Mahmoud Abbas and his
Fatah party after Hamas' violent takeover of the Gaza Strip in mid June.