Hamas, Fatah differ on NAM representation

A spokesperson for the West Bank-based Palestinian movement Fatah, Ahmed Assaf, has hit back recent statement by rival group Hamas, which said Fatah has "raped the legitimacy of Palestine". Assaf told Arabstoday: "Hamas is the one who raped our legitimacy when they carried out their bloody coup in 2007,” referring to the 2007 elections which Hamas won in Gaza. The Fatah spokesperson accused Hamas of  trying to "get around the Palestinian legitimacy", represented by the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), and fragment the representation of the Palestinian people in international forums. "They claim that Hamas is the only movement that truly represents the Palestinian people," he said. "Why does Hamas oppose holding elections ? Let us hold elections, and see whom the Palestinians choose," he said. On Tuesday, the Hamas government in Gaza launched an attack on the Palestinian Authority (PA), led by President Mahmoud Abbas, regarding its attendance of the Non Aligned Movement summit in Tehran,the Palestinian representation in the Non-Aligned Movement summit to be held in Iranian capital Tehran. The prime minister's office in Hamas said in a statement: "The rapists of the Palestinian legitimacy do not have the right to determine the nature of the Palestinian representation." The statement further said: "The attitude of the Fatah leadership towards inviting the dismissed Prime Minister [Salam Fayyad] to the Non-Aligned summit does not show any desire to achieve reconciliation, but helps in division, and says that the Ramallah government itself is the rapist of legitimacy, and should not claim representation of the Palestinians." A political reconciliation deal between Hamas and Fatah has been deadlocked for months over disagreements of who will lead the next unity government. He added: "Those who have ignored the Palestine Liberation Organisation, are those who ripped its charter, obstructed its institutions, aborted every effort of repair, and made it unable to serve the people.  Its representation of our people requires rebuilding it in accordance to what has been agreed upon in the Cairo Agreement ". "We do not want to use the bad ways of Fatah and will not be dragged into this." According to the statement: "Since Fayyad announced that he had received a kind invitation from the Iranian president to attend the Non-Aligned Movement summit, an incitement campaign against the government began and this campaign was even verbally abusive." He confirmed: "The acceptance of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of any invitation to attend a regional or international forum, including the Non-Aligned Summit, is considered normal because he is the legitimate Palestinian prime minister." Haniyeh has since rejected the invitation to the NAM summit, claiming that he did  not want to deepen divisions within Palestine and with other Arab countries. Shiite Iran is often seen as a rival to the mostly Sunni countries in the Arab world, such as the oil-rich Gulf countries and Egypt. Arabstoday sources however said that Iran itself had withdrawn the invitation from Haniyeh. On Tuesday, the Palestinian presidency said in a statement, "We will not allow any party to ignore the PLO, which is the only legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. Our people will not tolerate those who deal with movements and groups that embody the division on Palestine, regardless of the justifications. " "The attitude of the Hamas leadership regarding the participation in the NAM summit is very serious, represented in Ismail Haniyeh's quick announcement of accepting the invitation to attend the summit, without considering  the Palestinian legitimacy, and the unity of the Palestinian representation." The Palestinian presidency said, through this action Hamas confirmed that "its own interests and regional commitments are more important to them than the Palestinian national project." "The fact that the Coordination Committee in Non-Aligned Movement warned the Iranian government from the consequences of affecting the Palestinian representation, made the spokesman of the Iranian government say that his government has not sent a formal invitation to Ismail Haniyeh, who represents the de facto authority that is illegitimate in Gaza Strip", the Palestinian presidency added. After President Abbas threatened to boycott the summit if Hamas attended, Haniyeh apologised on Sunday for deciding not to attend the NAM summit in Tehran, so as not to be "an approach to increase the division of Palestinians"