Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday said the raging
power-struggle between Palestinian factions must not deteriorate
into civil war.
"Civil war is the red line that nobody dares cross, no matter
which side they are on... Civil war is forbidden," Abbas said on
the sidelines of the World Economic Forum where he held his first
high-level meeting with an Israeli official since the militant
Hamas organization took control of the Palestinian government in
March.
Abbas said he told Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni that the
two sides must restore regular contact and work toward resuming
peace talks. Livni said the roadmap peace plan drawn up by the
international community remained in force but did not
elaborate.
After the 45-minute meeting, Livni said the Hamas government
must not gain international recognition.
"It is a terrorist government, on the other hand we want to help
the Palestinian people and not to punish them," she said.
She also said Israel had decided to release 50 million shekels
(US$11 million) in tax money it had collected on behalf of the
Palestinians but was withholding.
Israeli officials and Abbas said the two leaders had discussed
preparations for a summit between the Palestinian leader and
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert once he returns from a trip to
Washington that began yesterday.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert "sees no reason not to hold a
future meeting with (Palestinian President) Mahmoud Abbas," Livni
said.
Olmert had been widely expected to meet with Abbas after the
Israeli leader's talks this week in Washington with US President
George W. Bush, but Livni's comments were the firmest indication
yet that such a meeting would take place.
Israel radio had said Livni and Abbas wanted to form a "bypass"
channel to maintain communications without including Hamas in their
talks. Abbas wants to resume peace negotiations with the
Israelis.
Hamas refuses to recognize Israel and rejects calls for the
militant Islamic group to disarm, a stand which has led the US and
the EU cut off of vital aid to Palestinians. The lack of funds has
thrown the Palestinian territories into turmoil.
Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres, who joined the talks, said he
had spoken with Egyptian officials at the conference about "how to
help the Palestinians get out of the difficult situation that they
are in."
At a news conference on Saturday at the World Economic Forum in
the booming Sinai Peninsula resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Abbas said
he would open a dialogue with Hamas leaders within the week in a
bid to end violence that has rocked the Gaza Strip.
"There is a crisis. We have to look for a solution," he said. "A
dialogue will be opened within the next four or five days."
The moderate Palestinian leader also said that there was no path
forward for his people but to seek peace with Israel.
Abbas' Fatah movement and Hamas are caught in an increasingly
violent power struggle focused on control of the security apparatus
in Gaza and are deeply divided on contacts with Israel.
"I have no other option than to seek the road of peace…. Our
hands will remain extended in peace. Peace is the only option,"
Abbas said. The Palestinian leader said he would tell Israeli
officials he remained opposed to unilateral Israeli actions to
separate itself from the Palestinians.
(China Daily May 22, 2006)
