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Gaza: Hamas fighters failed in a bid yesterday to convene the Palestinian parliament to challenge the legality of the government just installed by President Mahmoud Abbas to replace a Hamas-led administration.
The session was not able to start because a quorum could not be assembled. Hamas lawmakers said just 28 of 132 legislators turned up for the session, held jointly in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Hamas needed at least 67 for a quorum.
Boycott
Fatah boycotted the session, calling it illegal. In lieu of the session, Hamas lawmakers held an informal "consultative" meeting over the steps taken by Abbas.
Acting speaker Ahmad Bahar, a Hamas leader in Gaza, used his mobile phone to contact lawmakers in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Hamas accused Fatah of closing down a meeting room in Ramallah to prevent the lawmakers from using a video link that normally connects the two chambers.
Hamas won a majority of the seats in parliament in a January 2006 election, but Israel has arrested about half the group's 74 legislators and it can no longer assemble a majority.
Last week, Hamas boycotted a parliamentary session called by Abbas, saying that session was illegal and would have been used by Fatah to take over leadership posts now held by Hamas.
"We are here to send a clear message that the parliament must not be undermined. No one must undermine the Palestinian Basic Law," Bahar said, referring to the interim constitution.
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