By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH
Associated Press Writer
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday said he would dismiss the parliament and call early elections to end a political impasse with Hamas, but left open the possibility of a compromise with the Islamic militant group, PLO officials said.
Abbas announced his decision at a meeting of the PLO's powerful executive committee, and plans to deliver a formal nationwide speech in the coming week, participants said.
``At the end of the speech, he is going to announce that he will resort to early presidential and legislative elections but will keep the door open'' for forming a unity government with Hamas, said committee member Khalida Jarar. Months of unity talks between Hamas and Abbas' Fatah movement broke down last week.
Hamas trounced Fatah in parliamentary elections last January, taking control of the Palestinian legislature and Cabinet. The formation of the Hamas-led government immediately triggered economic sanctions by Israel and the West, which demand the militant group renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist. The sanctions have caused widespread hardship throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
On Friday, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said his government will never recognize Israel and will fight for Jerusalem, telling a crowd at an Iranian mosque on Friday that he will resist U.S. pressure. Iran has given $120 million to the Hamas-led government.
On Saturday, about 2,500 Palestinian police - some firing in the air - pushed onto the grounds of Gaza City's parliament while dozens of parents carrying infants broke into a West Bank clinic in protests against the Hamas government.
Parliament guards, most of them from Hamas, tried to block the crowd, but were pushed aside as protesters fired in the air in the building's courtyard. At one point, Hamas guards fired from a window, and protesters in the yard returned fire, but there were no reports of injuries.
Hamas, squeezed by the international aid boycott, has only paid partial salaries to 165,000 civil servants, including about 80,000 members of the security forces, 40,000 teachers and some 15,000 health care workers.
In the West Bank town of Jenin, some 4,000 members of the security forces staged a march to press for their salaries. Muntassar Abul Wafa, 37, a father of eight, said he received only five payments in the past 10 months for a total of $1,400, and that he had run out of cash. ``Every morning, I leave early, before my children wake up for school, so as not to look at them and see the need in their eyes,'' he said.
In the West Bank town of Hebron, dozens of parents carrying infants broke into a mother-and-child clinic, which has been closed because of the health workers' strike.
With Hamas refusing to accept the international conditions, Abbas has urged the group to join Fatah in a unity coalition. The two sides have been negotiating over a more moderate platform that Abbas hopes will lead to a lifting of the sanctions. But the talks deadlocked over the division of Cabinet portfolios and the issue of recognizing Israel.
Participants in Saturday's meeting said Abbas has not set a deadline for holding the new election. ``We had an intense discussion on various options, and from what we heard, he is leaning toward going back to the people with a call for early presidential and legislative elections,'' said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.
Another official close to Abbas said the election would likely be held in four or five months. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because a formal decision has not been made.
Calling a new election would be risky for Abbas. First, Abbas, a moderate elected in a separate presidential vote in 2005, would be putting his own job on the line. And there are no guarantees that Fatah would improve its standing in a new vote. The party, which dominated Palestinian politics for four decades, remains divided and tarnished by corruption.
Abbas also risks setting off a new round of tensions with Hamas. In recent months, Hamas and Fatah's differences have frequently erupted into violence.
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Associated Press writer Ibrahim Barzak contributed to this report from Gaza City.
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