Abbas accuses Hamas of being behind bombing PM's convoy in Gaza

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday accused Islamic Hamas Movement of being responsible for bombing the convoy of Palestinian Prime Minister Rami al-Hamdallah in Gaza last week.

"Hamas is behind the attack on the convoy as a result of the reconciliation talks we had with them ... if the assassination succeeded, it would have disastrous results and lead to the outbreak of a Palestinian civil war," Abbas said at a meeting of the executive committees of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and his Fatah Party's central committee.

He promised that what happened "will not pass."

Abbas strongly slammed Hamas, saying the movement must bear all the responsibilities of the Gaza Strip or to hand over his entire administration, including the security file to the Palestinian Authority.

An explosion occurred when the convoy of al-Hamdallah accompanied by Palestinian intelligence chief Majid Faraj entered the Gaza Strip through the Israeli-controlled Erez checkpoint on last Tuesday.

Palestinian security sources told Xinhua that unknown assailants targeted the convoy by placing a roadside bomb as soon as his convoy entered the Palestinian side of the Gaza Strip.

Despite the incident, Hamdallah completed his scheduled plan and arrived at the headquarters of a water treatment plant in northern Gaza Strip.

Following his rapid participation in the opening ceremony of the plant project, Hamdallah and Faraj left the Gaza Strip amid heavy security measures heading to the West Bank.

Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip since mid-2007, has condemned the incident and vowed to conduct investigations to prosecute the perpetrators.

The incident cast more negative shadows on the already faltering reconciliation process between Fatah and Hamas, which has been under Egyptian auspices for several years.