Abbas aide says Iran told Hamas to use violence in Gaza

[Purveyor]

An aide to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday Iran had encouraged Hamas to use violence to take control of the Gaza Strip.

"Iran supports non-democratic groups in Palestine, Lebanon and in Iraq and we hold Iran responsible for encouraging Hamas to carry out its coup in Gaza," senior Palestinian official Yasser Abed Rabbo said.

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A Hamas spokesman in Gaza said the charges were "weak and false.""We reject accusations by Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki that the formation of the emergency government is a step that is hostile to democracy. Iran has no right to give us lessons in democracy," Abed Rabbo, a senior Abbas aide, told Reuters.

"The involvement of senior Fatah leaders with the occupation (Israel) has become clear and Abed Rabbo is trying to cover up for this by spreading weak and false allegations that will not fool the Palestinian people," Hamas's Sami Abu Zuhri said.

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Iran, which supports Hamas, blamed the United States and other foreign parties for the crisis between Hamas and secular Fatah, an Iranian news agency reported.

---EOE---

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/872421.html

[rayofreason]

1. Would not surprise me.

Iran has been a big Hamas booster for a while.

http://english.aljazeera.net/English/archive/archive?ArchiveId=21223

But it is also clear that Hamas has been planning this for a while. It must have taken months to did that tunnel under Fatah headquarters in Khan Younis .

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/06/13/gaza.fighting/index.html?eref=edition

[AviBaruch]

2. Iran is certainly stirring the pot

much to the chagrin of Israel's arab neighbors. Anyone who thinks Iran isn't trying to gain regional hegemony is fooling themselves.

[bemildred]

3. Look, over there, the buck stops over there!

If it wasn't for Iran, everything would be just fine!