Special to WorldTribune.com

GAZA CITY — Hamas intends to remain apart from Palestinian Authority security forces.

Palestinian sources said Hamas has rejected the prospect that it would coordinate security operations with the PA.

The sources said any deployment of PA forces in the Gaza Strip would come under Hamas control.

“One of the challenges facing the success of the reconciliation is that President Mahmoud Abbas had announced that a government means that [all weapons should be under a unified command] and that Hamas should lay down its arms,” the Hamas Foreign Ministry said.

The sources played down a proposal to deploy 3,000 PA troops in the Gaza Strip as part of the reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas. They said Hamas’ Izzedin Kassam military wing, with some 14,000 officers and commanded by Marwan Issa, would not tolerate the resumption of PA control in any part of the strip.

“Izzedin Kassam controls Gaza, including the government,” a source said.

The sources said Hamas and Fatah remained far from agreement over the
role of the returning PA troops. They said one option was that the PA forces
would be deployed along the Gaza border with Egypt and serve as a shield for
Hamas.

Fatah has proposed that Hamas and the PA come under a unified command in
both the West Bank and Gaza Strip. But the sources said Hamas did not agree
to the proposal.

  Fatah, Hamas won’t unite with Palestinian forces in Gaza, Izzedin Kassam, Mahmoud Abbas