Abbas treating the besieged Gaza as rebel district

Israel Hayom newspaper said Thursday that Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas mulls declaring Gaza Strip a rebel district soon.

The paper quoted a senior PA official close to Abbas as saying that the move, a "doomsday weapon" for Abbas to use against Hamas in the internal Palestinian conflict.

The move aims at pressuring Hamas to hand control of Gaza over to the Palestinian Authority, according to the official.

Implementing the plan would mean immediately declaring a state of emergency throughout Gaza while simultaneously issuing emergency orders designating certain groups and movements as "rebels."

In such an event, Hamas would be outlawed and all its assets, including institutions, funds and bank accounts, will be frozen. In addition, arrest warrants will be issued against the heads of the organization.

Likewise, the Palestinian Authority will cease paying the salaries of public servants in Gaza, and will ask the U.N., the Arab League and various international bodies to discontinue international aid to Gaza.

The PA would also petition the Palestinian Supreme Court, seeking to declare the Palestinian parliament illegal, thereby revoking lawmakers' diplomatic immunity, disbanding the government and paving the way for an interim government for as long as the state of emergency continues.

The Palestinian official stressed that the assessment in Ramallah is that such a move would have far-reaching diplomatic implications, going beyond the internal Palestinian conflict. First and foremost, they believe this will pressure Israel, the U.S., Egypt, Jordan and others to kick start the stalled peace process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

According to the Palestinian official, security and political officials in Israel were recently briefed about Abbas' plans, and signaled that Israel did not support the action at this time.

Israelis would like to first exhaust all other avenues in order to contain the resistance in Gaza.