Marking 40 years of Israeli occupation, President Mahmoud Abbas
said Tuesday internal fighting had brought Palestinians to the
brink of civil war.
Yet Abbas, recalling what he described as the Arabs' "great
defeat" by Israel in six days of war that began on June 5, 1967,
assured his people that statehood was within reach.
"On the internal front, the cause of everybody's concern is what
is called the security chaos, or more precisely, standing on the
brink of a civil war," Abbas said in a televized speech from the
city of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.
In the Gaza Strip, forces from Abbas' Fatah faction and Islamist
Hamas fought a 3-hour gun battle near the Karni commercial
crossing, the most serious flare-up in violence between the two
groups in two weeks.
At least one member of Abbas' Presidential Guard was hurt.
A Hamas source said the group's gunmen had been in the area to
monitor Israeli forces near the Gaza border when they came under
fire from the Presidential Guard.
Hamas, which formed a unity government with Fatah in March,
denied any casualties on its side. But a senior Western security
source said there were several Hamas members injured and accused
the group of hiding its casualties.
In Ramallah's main square, down the road from an Israeli army
checkpoint at the city's entrance, Palestinians gathered for a
rally to mark the "naksa" or setback of 1967.
The war, which began with Israeli air raids that destroyed the
bulk of the Egyptian air force, ended with Israel occupying the
West Bank - including Arab East Jerusalem - the Gaza Strip, Golan
Heights and Sinai desert.
"Since that black date, our people and nation are paying a dear
price for a great defeat that... added complications to the
Israeli-Arab conflict, at the heart of which is the Palestinian
problem and the rights of our people," Abbas said.
"Despite all the difficulties, we are taking steps towards
statehood, a target that is getting closer," he said.
Abbas said he and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert would meet
for talks in a few days inside Palestinian territory.
"If the Israelis prefer to limit the agenda to the bare minimum,
it is my duty as the elected president of the Palestinian people,
to discuss strongly all issues and to press that they be placed on
the agenda," he said.
Israeli Vice-Premier Shimon Peres, calling the 1967 conflict a
war his country had been forced into by hostile Arab states, said:
"We wouldn't like to see the Palestinians occupied... We are ready
to negotiate straight away, fully, sincerely and responsibly."
Israeli officials, however, have said there could be no
substantive talks at present with the Palestinians on statehood,
noting their government is led by Hamas, which has rejected Western
demands to recognize the Jewish state.
Hamas also has rebuffed an Abbas-proposed truce between
militants and Israel following a surge in rocket attacks from Gaza
three weeks ago and Israeli air raids to curb them.
Under the plan, the ceasefire would first go into effect in the
Gaza Strip and then be extended to the West Bank.
Hamas says a truce must begin simultaneously in both
territories. Israel has also rejected the plan, saying its air
strikes had led to a drop in rocket attacks.
(China Daily via agencies June 6, 2007)
