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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Hamas protesters rally against talks

Los Angeles Times The Spokesman-Review

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Excluded from the Middle East peace conference in Maryland, Hamas on Tuesday summoned tens of thousands of its followers in the Gaza Strip to protest the gathering and reject any agreements that might grow from it.

Demonstrators chanted “We will never recognize Israel!” and called Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas a “traitor” and “collaborator” for attending the U.S.-sponsored meeting.

The protest was one of several this week by Palestinians and Israelis opposed to the peace conference. In the West Bank town of Hebron, a demonstrator was shot and killed Tuesday as Palestinian security forces dispersed a small crowd, although it was unclear who shot him.

The Bush administration hopes that an agreement reached Tuesday in Annapolis, Md., to begin substantive talks between the Israelis and Palestinians will jump-start a peace process stalled for nearly seven years. But Hamas leaders in Gaza belittled the gathering as only chipping at the edges of long-standing concerns of Palestinians, such as their claim of Jerusalem as the site of their future capital.

“We reject Annapolis and its results,” Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, said in televised remarks before the rally. “We will stand against any attempt to harm or dismantle the resistance.”

Hamas, feeling increasingly isolated, is poised to play the spoiler if a new Israeli-Palestinian peace process gets legs. Although the radical Islamist group risks being pushed further to the margins, it stands to gain if Israel and the moderate Palestinian leadership fail to convert the staged cordiality of Annapolis into serious peacemaking.

Hamas leaders were dismayed by the broad Arab participation in the Annapolis conference and especially by Syria’s decision to attend. For Hamas, Syria’s presence was a worrisome sign that more Arab nations were easing closer to normal relations with Israel.

Hamas has been in sole control of the Gaza Strip and its 1.4 million residents since June, when its forces routed fighters from Abbas’ Fatah party. Abbas, a moderate supported by the United States, now governs only the West Bank.