Abbas sets date for referendum recognizing Israel
RAMALLAH, West Bank – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday announced a July 26 referendum on a statehood plan that implicitly recognizes Israel, raising the stakes in a power struggle with the Hamas-led Palestinian government.
Hours before Abbas issued his decree, Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip fired rockets and mortars at southern Israel, resuming attacks after a 16-month truce in response to the killing of 11 Palestinians, including 7 members of a single family, during Israeli shelling and air strikes Friday.
Abbas’ move, taken at a politically difficult moment of public outrage over Friday’s killings, marks the first time Palestinians are being asked to vote directly on establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
The plan, drafted by prominent prisoners from Abbas’ Fatah party, Hamas and other factions, calls for a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with a capital in East Jerusalem.
Hamas, which refuses to recognize or negotiate with Israel, has rejected the referendum, calling it an attempt to undermine the government.
Abbas advocates peace talks with the Israelis and is using the referendum to outflank Hamas and bolster his position, banking on what polls have shown is strong public support for a two-state solution to the conflict with Israel. The Hamas charter calls for Israel’s destruction and the creation of a Palestinian state on land that includes Israel.
Announcing the referendum, Abbas argued that adoption of the two-state plan is essential to end the international boycott of the Hamas-led government, which has deepened an economic crisis in the Palestinian areas. Foreign donors and Israel have cut off aid and tax transfers to the Palestinian Authority, demanding that the government recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept previous agreements with the Israelis.
“I am convinced that the moment we agree on the document, the siege will end,” Abbas said, promising that endorsement of the statehood plan by Hamas at any time before the referendum would make the vote unnecessary. “The faster we move, the sooner we will save our people from this tragedy it is living through,” he said.
Abbas’ decree sets July 26 as the referendum date and says that Palestinians will be asked to vote yes or no on the question: “Do you agree with the national conciliation document – the prisoners’ document?”
Along with its call for a Palestinian state in boundaries that existed before the 1967 Middle East war, the document endorses the “right of return” of Palestinian refugees to their former lands now in Israel and refers to United Nations and Arab summit resolutions that offer recognition of Israel in return for its withdrawal from occupied land. The plan asserts that Abbas should conduct negotiations with the Israelis.
Prospects for talks were dimmed by the resumption of attacks by Hamas a day after Israel’s deadly strikes in the Gaza Strip.
During an Israeli artillery barrage to suppress militant rocket fire Friday, an explosion apparently caused by an errant shell tore through a crowded beach, killing seven members of the Ghalia family.