Hamas official: Dahlan was planning Gaza takeover, large-scale massacres in Gaza

Dahlan and his generals

From Khalid Amayreh in E. Jerusalem

"A leading Hamas politician in Gaza on Monday accused former Gaza strongman Muhammed Dahlan of having planned to “liquidate Hamas in the Gaza Strip and carry out large-scale massacres.” “The Dahlan group, in concert with the United States, Israel and PA leader Mahmoud Abbas, was planning a bloody campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, involving the murder of hundreds of its leaders and activists,” said Yahya Mousa, Deputy-head of Hamas’s bloc at the Legislative Council.

Mousa said Dahlan was preparing to turn Gaza into a big mass grave for Hamas and its supporters, all in the service of Israel and President Bush’s war on Islam. “The eradicationists had planned to decapitate Hamas . This is what forced Hamas to act.”

Mousa described the “emergency government,” headed by Salam Fayyadh, as “a blatant coup against Palestinian democracy.” “It is obvious that (President Mahmoud) Abbas is flying in the face of the law, the legislative council and constitution. His act (formation of the Fayyad government) has no constitutional, or legal or national legitimacy.”

Asked what he thought was the way out of this crisis, Mousa said the only way to overcome the current predicament was by upholding the Palestinian Law and stopping being at America’s and Israel’s beck and call.

The Islamic lawmaker said “the moral and political bankruptcy of the new government in Ramallah was expressing itself in the rampageous acts of arson and vandalism and abductions all over the West Bank .” “Abbas is the last person who can lecture us on the rule of law. A leader who allows masked and armed thugs to attack innocent civilians, vandalize their property and set their businesses and homes on fire, is not a legitimate leader. He is rather a head of a gang.”

Mousa’s remarks came a few hours after Fatah militiamen burned down the Ramallah home of Dr. Aziz Deweik, the Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council.

Deweik was abducted by the Israeli army last year and held captive for taking part in last year’s election.

Fatah and PA officials in Ramallah refused to comment on Mousa’s charges."