Gaza, 2007 Oct 30, Press TV
 
Hamas has vowed to take control of the West Bank in the coming months, threatening to depose Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas.

Hamas, which has been running the Gaza Strip since mid-June, vocally attacked Abbas on Monday, saying he 'will fall in the autumn like leaves'.

The fierce attack was made on Monday by Nezzar Rayyan and Mushier al-Massri, the two Hamas officials, during a rally for the movement in the northern Gaza Strip refugee camp of Jabaliya.

Rayyan's threat came despite a fresh confirmation by Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas leader, that the movement will not take control of West Bank by force.

But a Hamas lawmaker, Mushier al-Massri, said that Abbas 'lacks legitimacy and authorization from the Palestinian people', adding that the US President George W. Bush's 'friends will be slapped'.

Abbas will participate in a US-sponsored peace conference in November in an apparent effort to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.