Special report: Internal situation in Palestine

    GAZA, June 27 (Xinhua) -- Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, on Wednesday dismissed an earlier presidential decree to ban and dismantle all armed groups in the Palestinian territories.

    Abu Obaida, spokesman of Hamas' military wing the al-Qassam Brigades, said President Mahmoud Abbas' decree was "mere ink on paper and doesn't worth the ink that was used to write it." "The resistance groups will not wait any decree when they go to combat the invasion and no one has the right to determine the groups' future as long as the occupation remains in place," said Abu Obaida.

    But Ahmed Abdel Rahman, a spokesman for Fatah movement, said Abbas' decree was part of his efforts to "tackle the security chaos and scenes of rebellion."

    Since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip on June 14 following days of bloody fighting with Abbas' Fatah militants, Abbas had issued a number of presidential decrees, including the one on Tuesday.

    Tuesday's decree said, "the armed militia and the irregular military or paramilitary formations are forbidden from carrying out any underground or public activities, and anyone assisting them will be subject to legal inquiry."

    Earlier on June 17, Abbas outlawed in another decree the armed groups of Hamas, including the al-Qassam Brigades and the executive forces.