Ramallah, 29-01-07: Palestinian National Initiative (PNI) Secretary-General, Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi MP, joined together with religious leaders, Palestinian Chief Justice, Sheikh Tayseer Al-Tamimi, and Father Attallah Hanna, Archimandrite of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem, at a press conference held in Ramallah today to call for an immediate end to internal violence, and for armed groups to lay down their weapons.
The three leaders urged Palestinians to take to the streets in widespread, popular, peaceful protests to pressure the two rival factions, Fatah and Hamas, into ending in-fighting in which up to 32 Palestinians have been killed and more than 100 wounded in the Gaza Strip in four days of clashes between the two groups, and into forming a government of national unity.
Dr. Barghouthi stressed that the importance of the Palestinian struggle for an end to the occupation and the creation of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state transcended narrow sectarian interests and factional power struggles.
He underlined that the current fighting was the direct result of the failure to form a national unity government, and called on both Fatah and Hamas to return to dialogue towards the formation of a government of national unity to end the immediate crisis, and to lift the wider siege under which ordinary Palestinians continue to suffer.
Dr. Barghouthi indicated that there were no real obstacles standing in the way of a national unity government, but blamed pressure from external sources for the failure of negotiations towards this end. He added that Fatah and Hamas must put the wellbeing of the Palestinian people first ahead of the interests of external parties.
He also called for the Palestinian security forces to be reformed and said that any future security force should be professionally-based and independent of any political faction, and that its role should be to genuinely ensure the safety and security of the Palestinian people.
Dr. Barghouthi pointed out that only the ongoing Israeli occupation stood to benefit from the current state of lawlessness.
Referring to today’s suicide bombing in Eilat, Dr. Barghouthi directly attributed it to the absence of a Palestinian national unity government and the continuation of Israeli attacks throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip despite the ceasefire signed in November 2006. He blamed this on the “short-sighted policies of some Israeli leaders” who have worked to undermine the formation of a national unity government. “When violence starts, it affects everyone,” he said.
Dr. Barghouthi ended by emphasising that the only way out of the current crisis for all sides was the formation a national unity government and the organisation of an international peace conference to re-start the process towards seeking a just, non-violent end to the occupation.
If Fatah and Hamas cannot resolve their differences through the formation of a national unity government he added, then they must agree to find other peaceful, democratic means of doing so.
Sheikh Tayseer Al-Tamimi reiterated Dr. Barghouthi’s call to Fatah and Hamas to immediately end the in-fighting and killings, and for the two sides to lay down their arms. He cited verses from the Koran that forbid the use of violence, and said that those who use weapons against their Muslim brothers are not true Muslims.
Father Attallah Hanna stated that today’s initiative sought to act as a bridge to unite Palestinians of different faiths and backgrounds in demanding an end to the current crisis. He added that the value of the political pluralism achieved through last year’s legislative elections was being undone by the departure away from democracy, and by resorting to the use of violence to settle political scores. Father Attallah called for church bells to ring out alongside the azan (the Muslim call to prayer) until the violence is brought to a halt.
Barghouthi, Al-Tamimi and Attallah later attended a peaceful demonstration organised by civil society organisations in Ramallah’s central square to call for an end to internal fighting and the formation of a national unity government.