Hamas: Hamdallah’s statements on Gaza “partisan”

Hamas on Monday slammed the recent statements released by the Palestinian Premier Rami Hamdallah over Gaza’s security affairs and the management of the border crossings as “partisan” and “unfit for the latter’s political position.”

The gorup’s spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement no single Hamas official makes part of the staff in charge of the Israeli-run border crossings.

He said though the unity government has the right to administer the Rafah border crossing it is not entitled, by any means, to exclude Gaza employees or discriminate against them.

Abu Zuhri held al-Hamdallah accountable for his reluctance regarding the security file in Gaza and refusal to provide any operational budgets to the interior ministry.

Meanwhile, senior Hamas leader Ismail Redwan said in his exclusive statements to the PIC that any attempt at taking over the border crossings should fit the terms of the Cairo-brokered unity deal, itself founded on partnership rather than discrimination and layoffs against Gaza’s employees.

“How on earth does anybody dare to layoff the hands that have served this people with great professionalism and expertise? How dare anyone replace them?” Redwan wonders. “This is just an out-of-the-question scenario.”

He spoke out against Mahmoud Abbas’s political decision aimed at stepping up pressure on the Gaza Strip by tightening the blockade policy.

“Abbas lays bets on an anti-Hamas explosion,” he warned.

The statement came as a reaction to Nazmi Mehanna, the official taking charge of the crossings file, who had accused Hamas of standing as a stumbling block regarding the crossings affair.