Hamas parliament installed

RAMALLAH, West Bank — A new Palestinian parliament dominated by the militant group Hamas was installed here Saturday, and immediately, President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas lawmakers set out on a collision course over the need to honor existing agreements with Israel and conduct negotiations to achieve Palestinian statehood.

In a speech to new lawmakers at his headquarters in Ramallah, Abbas congratulated Hamas on its victory but warned the legislature that it could not disavow agreements and commitments by the Palestinian leadership dating back to the late 1980s. Those include U.N. resolutions and the 1993 Oslo accords, ratified by the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization, that commit the Palestinians to a peace solution based on an independent state side by side with Israel.

"We have accepted and respected the right of every individual, group or political faction to voice its complaints about the Oslo accords, but we have not and will not accept any questioning of the accords' legitimacy," Abbas said. "Indeed, from the hour the accords were endorsed, they became a part of reality to which we remain committed."

As he spoke, screens in the room carried the images of Hamas legislators taking part in the ceremony through a videoconference link in Gaza; they were barred from traveling to the West Bank because of Israeli restrictions.

"To reach a peaceful and just solution, we must resume negotiations according to the international and Arab initiatives," Abbas said. "The presidency and the government," he added, with emphasis, "will continue to respect our commitment to the negotiations as a strategic, pragmatic political choice."

But in Gaza City, Hamas leaders promptly made their opposition clear.

"There were many points of disagreement," said Ismail Haniya, a senior Hamas leader who is expected to become the group's candidate for prime minister. Abbas "was elected according to his program, and we were elected according to a different program," he said.

Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas spokesman and legislator, said negotiations with Israel "are not on our agenda." Like many Hamas leaders, Haniya and Masri consider the Oslo accords a dead letter and often cite Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel as having said the same thing.

Still, on Saturday, Haniya, like Abbas, promised to deal with their differences "through dialogue and understanding, to preserve the national unity of the Palestinian people and promote their higher interests."