Abbas Accuses Al-Jazeera Of Inciting As Protests Erupt In Gaza

[Derechos]

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Thousands of cheering Hamas supporters in Gaza burned effigies of President Mahmoud Abbas and his aides Wednesday, as Al-Jazeera TV alleged that leaked documents show the Palestinian leader colluded with Israel and the U.S. against Gaza.

The protests came in response to reports by the Arab satellite station about documents from a decade of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Al-Jazeera, which has been releasing the documents gradually this week, says they also show Abbas made far-reaching concessions on Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees.

The Islamic militant Hamas and Abbas have been bitter rivals since Hamas overran Gaza in 2007. Abbas' West Bank government is a rival to the Hamas government of Gaza.

In Wednesday's broadcast, Al-Jazeera presented documents it says suggest Abbas acted under U.S. pressure when he decided in 2009 to suspend a campaign to have Israeli officials prosecuted for war crimes over Israel's war on Gaza that year. Protests erupted in the Palestinian territories after that decision.

In a document from 2008, after a Hamas-engineered breach of the blockaded Gaza-Egypt border, Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia is quoted as telling his Israeli counterpart, Tzipi Livni, that if Israel can reoccupy the West Bank it can reoccupy a border, an apparent reference to the Gaza-Egypt frontier. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

Abbas has said he's been the victim of a smear campaign and Al-Jazeera is distorting his positions. Hamas has seized the opportunity to drive home allegations that he has no mandate from the Palestinian people to make concessions.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/26/gaza-protests-abbas-al-jazeera-_n_814341.html