Hamas on Sunday said that it was studying the suspension of its participation in the Cairo talks for internal Palestinian reconciliation following the killing of two of its armed wing's commanders in the West Bank city of Qalqilia at the hands of PA security forces.
According to PIC, Dr. Salah Al-Bardawil, one of the Hamas leaders in Gaza Strip, read out a statement for his Movement, saying that Hamas was pondering the step in view of the escalating "crimes" against its cadres in the West Bank. He also said that Egypt should interfere and commit Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas to end political detention and to release all political detainees.
Hamas is currently revising its stance regarding the kidnappings in the West Bank in a bid to preserve the resistance's fighters lives, dignity and weapons, Bardawil said. He held Abbas and the premier of the West Bank government Salam Fayyad prime responsibility for the crime for giving orders of prosecuting and liquidating resistance fighters to satisfy the "racist Zionist occupation government".
For his part, Ali Baraka, the deputy representative of the Hamas Movement in Syria has asserted that the crime in Qalqilia will have "serious repercussions" on the dialog in Cairo. According to him, the "crime" will destroy the dialog and deepen the rift in the Palestinian arena.
