Hamas says referendum on gov't would be a "coup"

CAIRO, Oct 18 (Reuters) The Islamist movement Hamas would consider as a ''coup'' any referendum called by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the fate of the Hamas cabinet, a senior official of the movement said today.

''We reject making the referendum like a bogeyman to resort to in such situations ... President Mahmoud Abbas has powers, yes and he can exercise his powers within the legal limits,'' Interior Minister Saeed Seyam told a news conference in Cairo, his final stop in a tour that included Syria and Iran.

''But the situation here is not about powers... The referendum in itself would be a coup against the legitimacy this government enjoyed (through January elections),'' he said.

Abbas, who heads the secular nationalist movement Fatah yesterday, said he had to make a decision soon on the future of the Hamas government and that he might seek approval for any move in a referendum.

The president has hinted he could sack the government and has said talks on forming a unity coalition with the Islamist movement are dead over its refusal to recognise Israel. Hamas says forming a unity cabinet is still possible.

The power struggle has dashed Palestinian hopes that a unity cabinet would bring an end to Western sanctions and has sparked fighting this month between gunmen from Hamas and Fatah.

Eighteen people have been killed.

Abbas did not explicitly say what his options were but his aides have said he might call fresh elections, appoint an emergency government or hold a referendum to let the Palestinian people decide what to do.

Seyam refused to say how Hamas would react to the possible referendum, but said the President should ''carefully study'' the consequences of any decision he would take.

While the Palestinian basic law, which serves as a constitution, allows Abbas to sack the government, it does not mention other alternatives such as calling early polls.

Seyam also said he was aware that arms shipment were entering the Gaza Strip to Abbas's presidential guard force.

''We do not know the nature and the source of these arms,'' he said, when asked whether Israel and the United States were helping Abbas arm his security body.

After Hamas beat Fatah in parliamentary elections, the West cut off official aid because of Hamas's refusal to recognise Israel and renounce violence. The group says it would not do so as long as the Jewish state occupies Palestinian territory.

The deadlock has deepened an economic crisis in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Seyam criticised the Arab states for failing to exert enough pressure to end the blockade and transfer financial aid to the Palestinian Authority.

He said he briefed leaders in Syria and Iran ''about the blockade and the latest developments.'' His stopover in Egypt was an ''unofficial visit'' despite meeting the deputy to intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, he said.

Egypt has been mediating between Israel and Hamas on a prisoner exchange including an Israeli soldier seized in a cross-border operation in June. Cairo says the militant group turned down a deal that would have secured the release of some 1,000 Palestinians from Israeli jails.

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