Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today ruled out talks with Hamas Islamists, whom he accused of trying to assassinate him and of launching a coup in the Gaza Strip.
"No dialogue with those killers, coup plotters," Abbas told Fatah leaders in the West Bank. He accused Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Meshaal of being part of a plot to assassinate him.
But Abbas, who dissolved a coalition government between Hamas and his more secular Fatah and replaced it with an emergency cabinet whose mandate is effectively limited to the Israeli-occupied West Bank, appealed for solidarity in Gaza.
"I address our people in Gaza. I tell them that the plans of these putchist assassins have no future," he said. "We will continue to work hand-in-hand with you."
The crisis has prompted speculation that Gaza and the West Bank could evolve into mini-states, perhaps to the satisfaction of Israel as it seeks to restart peace talks on its terms.
Abbas ruled out such a subdivision of lands which, though 45 km (30 miles) apart, Palestinians see as a future unified state.
"I emphasise my rejection of any Israeli attempt to take advantage of this act perpetrated by the coup militias ... to pave the way for the separation of Gaza and the West Bank," he said.