An Israeli air strike killed four Palestinians, including an 8-year-old boy, in Gaza on Monday as Hamas legislators threw down the gauntlet to Mahmoud Abbas, repealing all decisions made by the previous Parliament, including a legislation giving him wider powers. Two Islamic Jihad militants were killed when a missile struck their car in northern Gaza.
Witnesses said the 8-year-old child was killed as a result of standing close to the car.
A fourth person also died, a hospital official said, although it was unclear whether that person was riding in the car or standing nearby. Nine people were wounded, including several children. Parliament's decision prompted a senior Abbas aide to accuse Hamas of attempting to oust the Palestinian president.
‘We see this as a coup attempt to change the regime and they (Hamas) have to seriously reconsider their decisions,’ said the aide, Tayyeb Abdel-Rahim. Fatah boycotted Monday's vote having earlier staged a walkout from the chamber.
On the diplomatic front, Hamas leaders will be in Saudi Arabia soon, the kingdom's foreign minister said Monday, as visiting French President Jacques Chirac said he opposed sanctions against the Palestinian Islamist movement.
‘Yes, we are going to see them. They will be here, probably in the next few days,’ Prince Saud al-Faisal told reporters. ‘We put no conditions on them.’
In a separate news conference, Chirac, who was at the end of a three-day visit to Riyadh, urged Hamas to meet the demands of the ‘Quartet’ while insisting the will of the Palestinian people must be respected and that they would suffer from any potential sanctions against a Hamas-led government.
‘I am against sanctions in general and especially in this case,’ said Chirac.
Monday's Parliament session had got off to an orderly start when new Hamas Speaker Aziz Dweik opened proceedings before 112 of the 132 MPs, many of whom took part via video-link from Parliament in Gaza because of Israeli-imposed travel restrictions.
‘The Palestinian people will be our leaders and we will want to follow the path of the great Palestinian people who have showed us how to resist. Our main guide will be the teachings of God and of (the Prophet) Mohammad,’ Dweik said.
The morning session, which lasted just over two hours, was dominated by an animated debate over the special measures agreed on by the outgoing Parliament.
Later, Fatah members stormed out in protest.
In the final session of the previous Parliament on February 13, majority Fatah members pushed through an amendment to an existing law, giving Abbas power to appoint judges to a constitutional court without seeking legislative approval.
The judges could have been asked to decide whether laws approved by the new Parliament were constitutional. Hamas said the move effectively gave Abbas veto power over new laws.
‘We would have preferred Fatah not withdraw but it's up to them. We voted to cancel all the resolutions that were taken in the February 13 session because the entire session was unconstitutional,’ Hamas lawmaker Mahmoud Ramahi told Reuters.
Fatah's walkout had been designed to buy time but the overwhelming vote was a rude reminder of the movement's reduced status in the new-look chamber. In a statement issued after the vote, the Fatah MPs denounced what they called ‘the violations of the law which have been committed during this session and the manner in which proceedings have been handled’ by Dweik.
‘This is undermining any base for dialogue and partnership,’ they added.
After the sometimes-stormy morning session, occasionally broken by good-natured teasing, Dweik told AFP: ‘This is the nature of parliamentary democracy all over the world.’
‘It will work, but it will take time,’ said Fatah MP Saeb Erekat, who remains the chief Palestinian negotiator.
However, he objected to Dweik participating directly in the debate, saying he should have stepped down from the chair and spoken as a mere deputy.
Hanan Ashrawi, an independent MP, deplored what she said was the ‘tense’ nature of the session. ‘I hope such friction does not mark every session of the PLC,’ she said.