‘Crisis’ warning over Hamas force
A senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says there will be a crisis unless the Hamas-led government withdraws a new security force.Several thousand members of the Palestinian security services have paraded through Gaza chanting slogans in support of Mr Abbas.
The show of force came a day after the government deployed its own troops in defiance of the Palestinian president.
Hamas says the force, which is headed by a militant, is to ensure security.
Aides to Mr Abbas have said it will only deepen security problems.
“I think the situation is a pressure-cooker situation. The situation is very fragile. And we don’t want anything that may endanger the situation or push it from bad to worse,” Saeb Erekat, a senior aide to President Abbas, told the BBC’s World Update.
Palestine seems dangerously close to civil war. I certainly hope that they step back from the brink and start working on compromise and dialogue rather than violence. It would be nice if they would employ the same tactic with Israel as well.
You can’t force peace on anyone. They are going to have to want it and work for it before this situation gets any better.