Hamas Minister Rejects Abbas’ Referendum Call

Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar rejected as a waste of time and money a referendum that President Mahmoud Abbas has threatened to call unless Hamas changes its policy toward Israel.

Zahar’s remarks were Hamas’ clearest rejection yet of a referendum on creating a Palestinian state, underlining the widening rift between Abbas’ Fatah faction and Hamas, the Islamic militant group that won elections in January.

In the Gaza Strip, four Islamic Jihad militants were killed in a gun battle with Israeli troops and an army helicopter missile strike as they attempted to launch makeshift rockets, witnesses said.