Palestinians Rally For Unity

    Protesters take to the streets of West Bank
    city of Ramallah, saying time has come for
    Fatah and Hamas to come together.

[Photo; http://tinyurl.com/4jha8zc ]

Aljazeera
February 7, 2011

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/20112171841393818.html

Some demonstrators said they were more interested in
Palestinian unity than elections [Reuters]

Thousands of Palestinians have rallied in Ramallah in
the occupied West Bank calling for unity between the
Hamas and Fatah factions.

One of the protesters in Thursday's demonstration told
Reuters Television that the time had come for
Palestinians to be one, undivided people.

Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, has rejected a
call by Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian
Authority (PA), to hold elections in the territories by
September.

Hamas, which is at loggerheads with the Fatah, won the
last parliamentary elections in 2006 before it seized
control of the strip the following year.

"I am here in solidarity with the Palestinian people,
and to see an end to the division. Because there is one
nation, and one people," said Amira Sliman.

"The Palestinian people should not separate or divide,
we are all one - the time has come for us to be one
people."

Another demonstrator, Murad Jadallah, voiced discontent
with the PA.

"We are not looking for elections, we want Palestinian
national unity. The authority [the PA] we have now is a
result of the Oslo agreement.," Jadallah said.

"We as a Palestinian people demand the toppling of the
Oslo agreements."

Flag burned

The Gaza Strip is home to 1.5 million Palestinians
while the West Bank, controlled by Fatah, accommodates
2.5 million Palestinians.

The election promise was issued on February 12 by the
Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) in an apparent
bid to head off any wave of popular protest fanned by
the uprisings elsewhere in the Middle East.

Demonstrators also chanted against a looming US veto on
a possible UN Security Council resolution condemning
Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

"This veto no longer means much for us; we insist to
remain in our homeland; we insist to remain strong and
we insist that this nation, God-willing, will remain
with Jerusalem as its capital," demonstrator Imad El
Imleh told Reuters Television as protesters burned the
US flag.

Last month, Arab nations submitted a draft resolution
to the UN Security Council condemning Israeli
settlements in the West Bank, but a vote is not
expected any time soon because of the likely US veto,
diplomats said.

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