'Hamas to declare its own Interim President'

Jerusalem, Oct 1 (PTI) Stepping up pressure on the
rival Palestinian Authority (P.A.) President Mahmoud Abbas,
Islamic faction Hamas, has threatened to name an interim
President if elections for the post are not held in January
2009, a media report said.

They would not recognise Abbas as the President of
P.A. after the completion of his four year term, 'The
Jerusalem Post' said quoting Hamas officials.

Hamas threatened to declare one of its members as
interim president if the elections are not held on time, the
report said.

"We will remove his pictures from all the public
institutions. Until now our policy has been not to challenge
Abbas legitimacy as the elected leader of the Palestinian
Authority," an official told the daily.

"If he wants to seek another term in office, he should
contest new elections. By announcing that he will stay in
power for another year, Abbas is acting in violation of the
Palestinian Basic Law," the official said.

Hamas insists that Abbas' term expires in January
2009,while the P.A. argues that the Palestinian Legislative
Council (P.L.C.) amended an election law so as to call for
holding parliamentary and presidential elections together.

The current Hamas-dominated parliament was elected in
January 2006 and the next elections are to held in 2010 as per
P.A. laws.

Mahmoud Abbas led P.A., whose control has been limited
to the West Bank since Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip in
June last year, decided earlier this year that his term would
be extended until January 25, 2010, to coincide with the end
of the term of the P.L.C.

Dismissing the announcement as a "flagrant violation
of the Palestinian Basic Law," Hamas said that the purported
amendment of the election law was itself illegal.

Hamas officials said that according to the Basic Law,
the PA President's term cannot be extended because it is
limited to four years, the report said.

A senior Hamas official reportedly said that they are
planning to name Ahmed Bahr, the acting speaker of the P.L.C.,
as the interim president next January.

"The Palestinian law calls for the speaker of the
parliament to serve as interim president until new elections
are held," he said adding, "When Yasser Arafat died, the
former speaker of the parliament, Rouhi Fattouh, took over for
two months."

Bahr, who is one of the top leaders of Hamas in the
Gaza Strip, said that he was prepared to serve as acting P.A.
President following the end of Abbas' term.

"Abbas would not be able to remain in office after
January. If he wants, he can run in the new elections. But in
the meantime, I will be filling in for him," Bahr asserted.

"If he insists on violating the law, he will
consolidate the state of schism in the Palestinian arena. He
has no right to steal the post of President against the will
of the people," Bahr added.

P.A. officials in Ramallah scoffed at Bahr's remarks,
saying he was not even the speaker of the P.L.C.

"Bahr forgot that he's only the acting speaker of the
parliament and that the speaker is Abdel Aziz Dweik (currently
in Israeli jail)," the daily quoted an official as saying.

"In any case, Bahr represents a movement that has
trampled the law under its foot," he said.

The senior Hamas leader also said that there is
a possibility that Abbas, might wage a major offensive against
Hamas with the help of Israel in the Gaza Strip in January.