Hamas leaders warn Abbas against disbanding gov't

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Hamas leader Muhammed Nazal said Tuesday that if Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas were to disband the government, as he threatened to do if Hamas refused to negotiate with Israel, the move would cause "a crisis" in the PA government. "It would be a declaration of war," Nazal said. Another senior Hamas member told an Egyptian paper that a decision to disband the current government would incur a "high price." The official said that Hamas would not allow any alternative government to be formed, and that if Abbas were to insist that the PA parliament disband, the organization would return to covert operations and abandon the tahadiya (truce) with Israel, Israel Radio reported.