Hamas on Monday slammed the Palestine Liberation Organization over its use of “inappropriate inciting terminology” as the PLO called on Hamas to annul legislation it has passed in Gaza.

The PLO Executive Committee on Monday issued a statement accusing Hamas of “Muslim Brotherhoodization” and “Talibanization” over new laws it has passed in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas responded in a statement that the PLO’s terminology was “taken from the lexicon of assaults against the Islamist movement.”

The PLO Executive Committee on Monday called on the Hamas-run government to annul all legislation passed since “the coup” in 2007, when Hamas took over the Gaza Strip after ousting Fatah from the enclave in a brief civil war. Hamas had won elections a year earlier.

The PLO committee said Hamas could not pass laws without the approval of a majority in the Palestinian Legislative Council. The Fatah-led Palestinian Authority has closed the PLC offices in Ramallah.

Hamas responded that holding Palestinian Legislative Council meetings in Gaza despite Israel’s detention of PLC members was “legal and patriotic.”

Hamas also denounced “the use of the so-called PLO Executive Committee to maintain Fatah domination over the representation of Palestine.”

Hamas is not a member of the PLO.

The PLO committee said that since the state of Palestine is a part of international laws and conventions, “all Palestinian legislation should abide by these conventions based on human rights. Palestine is a democratic, civilized and pro-human rights state,” the PLO statement added.

Meanwhile, Hamas noted that its government in Gaza “is the one elected by the Palestinian people, and not a Hamas government as the Executive Committee described it.”

Unlike the Ramallah-based government, the Gaza government takes its decisions locally after deeply examining national interests, rather than taking instructions from outsiders, Hamas added.

(Ma’an – www.maannews.net)