King Abdullah avoids meeting with Fatah's Abbas

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has skipped a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in an apparent diplomatic snub, Al Jazeera reported on Friday.President Abbas was reportedly kept waiting at a palace room for a telephone call for the meeting that never came. Al Jazeera's David Chater, reporting from Jordan, said: ‘It was a deliberate and undiplomatic snub.’Mr Abbas, who dissolved the unity government in Palestine, set up under a Saudi brokered peace deal, is under increasing pressure from Arab governments to restart talking to Hamas and negotiate a compromise.An Arab diplomat told Dawn that despite standing by the Abbas government in public, he was in very clear terms by President Hosni Maubarak during Sharm-El-Sheikh summit earlier the week that he needs to mend fences with Hamas.‘We have told him so in very clear terms,’ the diplomat added. ‘There is no ambiguity about it.’The need to reorganise the Fatah movement and weed out corruption within its ranks also could not be over emphasised, the Riyadh-based diplomat said.The move comes days after Mr Abbas dissolved the unity government set up under the Saudi deal and accused Hamas of attempting to assassinate him. President Abbas had publicly vowed earlier not to talk to the ‘assassins’. President Abbas also wanted to show King Abdullah proof of Hamas plot to assassinate him while in Gaza.Arab governments initially appeared trying to isolate Hamas. But now President Abbas is coming under increasing pressure also from Arab heavyweights, at a time, when Israel and the Quartet seem to be holding out carrots to him for staying away from Hamas.An official close to Mr Abbas was quoted here as saying that the Thursday meeting with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia was postponed “due to lack of time as both leaders had busy schedules”.The official said Mr Abbas would meet King Abdullah in Saudi Arabia “in coming weeks” but gave no details.

Olmert Makes 'Gesture of Goodwill' on Fatah

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised Monday to seek the release of 250 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons in response to calls from Arab leaders that he take steps to shore up the emergency government of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Palestinian officials spoke positively of Olmert's announcement but said he had failed to give timelines or other specifics. Olmert renewed promises to ease Israeli restrictions on West Bank residents and reestablish Israeli-Palestinian discussions toward Palestinian statehood.
"We need to see how they will implement the promises on the ground," said Nabil Amr, a spokesman for Abbas, after a summit in this Egyptian resort that featured closed-door bilateral talks among the four leaders attending. "Two-hundred-and fifty prisoners is a good step, but if that's the best he can offer it's not even legitimate."
The meeting brought Abbas and Olmert together with the leaders of Egypt and Jordan, the two Arab states that have signed peace treaties with Israel.
Abbas said the sense of urgency created by Hamas's takeover of the Gaza Strip this month should be funneled into reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The two sides last negotiated in earnest in 2001.
"Today we have an opportunity to fulfill our dream of coexistence," said Jordan's King Abdullah II. "The only alternative will be more years wasted in negotiations and losses."
The Jordanian king spoke in an open session during which the four leaders read statements into the television cameras, sitting around a massive square table that kept each leader yards apart from his counterparts.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak convened the summit to explore resuming Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, bolstering Abbas's West Bank administration and containing Hamas in Gaza.
In mid-June, Hamas forces routed fighters loyal to Abbas's Fatah movement in Gaza, prompting Abbas to dissolve a Fatah-Hamas government and declare a new administration whose authority appears limited to the West Bank. Hamas, which has proposed reconciliation talks but has been rebuffed by Fatah leaders, says its government is still legitimate.
Olmert's announcement regarding 250 of the roughly 10,000 Palestinians in Israeli custody represented the only new Israeli move Monday.
"As a gesture of goodwill towards the Palestinians, I will bring before the Israeli cabinet a proposal to free 250 Fatah prisoners who do not have blood on their hands, after they sign a commitment not to return to violence," Olmert said.
Referring to an Israeli soldier captured a year ago by Hamas-affiliated groups, Olmert said: "Abbas more than once made a commitment to me that he will act to secure the release of Gila Shalit from the extremists who are holding him. I believe that his intentions in this matter are sincere, but he himself faces a wall of silence and cruelty by the Hamas and terrorist organizations."
The release likely would not meet conditions set by Shalit's captors, who seek the freedom of Hamas members held by Israel.
Arab leaders had gone to the summit urging that Israel ease checkpoints that impede the lives and work of Palestinians in the West Bank. Israel's security forces have blocked previous pledges by Israeli civilian leaders to reduce the checkpoints, saying they are essential to Israel's security. The United Nations says the number of checkpoints has increased more than 40 percent since Israel promised in 2005 to reduce the barriers.
Olmert noted that he and the Arab leaders likely would face criticism at home for taking part in Monday's summit. At its end, closed-circuit TV at the summit site showed Israeli and Arab leaders beaming at one another, with Olmert repeatedly resting a hand on Mubarak's back and Mubarak reaching out to touch the shoulder of the Israeli leader. Arab satellite channels did not show these cordial scenes.
Egypt and Jordan worry that Hamas's ascendance will encourage Islamic activism on their own soil. Mubarak's administration has arrested hundreds of members of the Muslim Brotherhood and changed the constitution to block the movement's political rise. The Islamic political movement shocked Egypt's government in 2005 by winning nearly a fifth of the seats in the lower house of parliament.
"Today in the Sharm el-Sheikh summit they are all afraid and trying to find a way out," said Essam el-Eryan, a leader of the Brotherhood, in a telephone interview after the summit. "King Abdullah is scared. Half his population is Palestinian -- what if free elections are held today in Jordan?"
Mubarak, whose military trained hundreds of Fatah fighters in recent months, "is afraid from the revelation of his ties with Fatah," Eryan said. "Who trained Fatah? Who allowed the U.S. funds and weapons leak to Fatah? Who spoiled the Mecca accords?" he asked, referring to a pact brokered by Saudi Arabia to try to hold together the Hamas-Fatah government.

Al-Qaeda Breeding Ground Created By West

It seems that al-Qaida's dream is on its way to turning into reality. At last it has found a foothold on the Palestinian scene. Witness the kidnapping of BBC reporter Alan Johnston in Gaza by the al-Qaida affiliated Jaish al-Islam 100 days ago yesterday, and the heated battles in Nahr al-Barid refugee camp between the Lebanese army and al-Qaida sympathisers Fatah al-Islam over the past month. And with Gaza and the West Bank sliding further into anarchy, with Hamas and Fatah turning on each other after a year of crushing siege, this new presence can only grow stronger.
Since declaring jihad in 1998, al-Qaida has aspired to acquire the legitimacy of representing the Palestinian cause, well aware of its rich symbolism within the Arab and Islamic collective conscience. Ever since the eruption of the Arab-Israeli conflict in 1948, Palestine has offered vital legitimacy to a great many political movements and regimes, from nationalist Nassirites and Ba'athists to liberals and Islamists. It is this moral authority that gave the late Yasser Arafat the status he enjoyed not only among Palestinians, but across the Arab world and beyond.
Palestine is the mirror in which the Arab political scene is reflected. Fatah was an expression of the rise of the left and nationalism; Hamas of the shift towards political Islam. And that is precisely why events in Gaza and Lebanon's Palestinian refugee camps today should not be taken lightly. They are ominous harbingers of what could lie ahead. When Osama bin Laden and his lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahiri issued their "Jihad against Jews and Crusaders" statement on February 28 1998, responses to their declaration varied from apathy to amusement. They were an obscure group lost in the faraway emirate of the Taliban, a pathetic remnant of the fight against the USSR during the cold war. Their role looked historically defunct and their discourse archaic.
Things could not be more different now. Al-Qaida has become an intensely complex global network, with a decentralised, flexible structure that enables it to spread in all directions, across the Arab world, Africa, Asia and Europe. Whether pursuing active cells or searching for sleeping ones, the security world is haunted by al-Qaida's ghost. Like bubbles, these cells are autonomous, bound together neither by hierarchy nor by a chain of command. It only takes a few individuals who subscribe to its ideology and terrorist methods for al-Qaida to extend its reach to a new part of the globe.
With the Middle East moving from one crisis to another, this small organisation saw itself miraculously transferred from periphery to centre. In its founding statement, al-Qaida defined its mission as a jihad aimed at cleansing the Arabian peninsula of the American "locusts, eating its riches and wiping out its plantations", and liberating Palestinian land from Zionist occupation. With the invasion of Iraq in 2003, al-Qaida was offered a firm foothold in the Middle East and the unique chance to implement its "resistance against Jews and crusaders" project.
The organisation's penetration of Palestinian politics is the climax of a long, still unfolding process. Rapidly expanding from one location to another, al-Qaida currently boasts branches throughout the Arab region. These developments are worrying not only from the point of view of ruling governments and their western allies, but from that of mainstream Islamic movements too. The defeat of Nasserite nationalism in 1967 saw these movements turn into the principal active players on the political map. Nationalist demands and aspirations of liberation of Palestine, independence from foreign dominance, and sovereignty over resources, began to be spoken with an Islamic voice, in a region where the national and the Islamic have always been intimately intertwined.
With the severe restrictions imposed on them by their western-backed governments and the evaporation of American promises of reform and democratisation, this "democratic Islam" currently finds itself in the grip of a crisis. The greatest beneficiary is al-Qaida. In the Middle East, its battles are fought on two fronts: against "traitor" regimes and their western backers on the one hand, and against popular Islamist oppositions deemed "deviant from the true path of jihad" on the other. In a speech recently broadcast on the al-Jazeera satellite channel, al-Zawahiri scolded Hamas for straying from the path of resistance by participating in the political process.
Events on the ground give further credibility to al-Zawahiri's words. Arabs have watched with horror as Palestinians have been severely punished for their electoral choices, isolated, starved, and propelled towards the bottomless pit of internecine feuding. The message from Washington and London seemed to be: don't bother with the ballot box - only through bombings and violence is change possible. Between occupation and obstruction of peaceful change, the US is creating the ideal environment for al-Qaida to flourish, the product of a sick geopolitics and a deformed view of the region and its needs.
But one thing is certain: the smoke rising from Nahr al-Barid's ruined camp will not be the last the region will see, and the flames will not stop at the Middle East's borders, or consume its people alone.

US 'to unblock' Palestinian aid

The US will lift a 15-month embargo on aid to the Palestinians once a new emergency government excluding Hamas is sworn in, a US diplomat has said.

US consul-general in Jerusalem Jacob Walles said there were no obstacles to re-engaging with the new government, which would have full US support.

Palestinian President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas is expected to swear in a new prime minister on Sunday.

He sacked the Hamas-led government after clashes left more than 100 dead.

On Saturday, violence between the rival factions spread from Gaza to the West Bank, as Fatah gunmen stormed the Hamas-controlled Palestinian parliament building in Ramallah.

Quartet backing

Mr Welles met President Abbas on Saturday and said afterwards that he expected announcements in Washington about "our assistance and about the financial regulations" early next week.

"There won't be any obstacles, economically and politically, in terms of re-engaging with this [emergency] government," he told Reuters news agency.

The quartet of Middle East peace mediators - the US, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union - has also said it backs the decision to dissolve the Hamas led-administration.

Western nations imposed sanctions on the Palestinians after Hamas, considered a terrorist organisation by the US and EU, won elections in January 2006.

Hamas has denounced the move to form an emergency administration as illegal.

Last week, it ousted Fatah from Gaza after a week of fierce fighting.

On Saturday, Fatah gunmen seized the parliament building in Ramallah in the West Bank.

Second deputy speaker Hassan Khuraishah, an independent, told the BBC he had been beaten up as he tried to prevent Fatah gunmen from raising their flag.

In a show of strength, Fatah supporters paraded around Ramallah, firing weapons into the air and chanting "Hamas out".

Almost all Hamas politicians and prominent supporters in Ramallah have either fled or gone into hiding.

Fatah supporters also took over the Hamas-controlled legislative council in Nablus.

Fleeing Gaza

Meanwhile, hundreds of Fatah supporters are reported to have been fleeing Hamas-controlled Gaza by land and sea.

Gaza, and the much larger West Bank, are just 45km (30 miles) apart, but correspondents say they now look poised to function as two separate territories.

President Abbas declared a state of emergency when he sacked the government of Ismail Haniya on Thursday.

Mr Abbas has said he will rule by presidential decree until conditions are right for early elections.

His nominee for prime minister, Salam Fayyad, is a former World Bank economist, whose impending appointment Israel has welcomed.

Palestinian Unity Governmet Dissolved

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, dissolved the unity government today, dismissing the prime minister, Ismail Haniya of Hamas, and announced the establishment of a temporary emergency government until new elections can be held.
Mr. Abbas, who belongs to Fatah, also declared a state of emergency in measures that were announced by his aides in Ramallah and Gaza.
The decisions were taken as Mr. Abbas faced the further collapse of his power as fierce clashes continued and Hamas fighters took over the headquarters of Fatah’s Preventive Security forces and the military intelligence building in Gaza City.
Today’s assaults on Fatah put Hamas close to full control of Gaza. Only the presidential compound of Mr. Abbas and the Suraya headquarters of the National Security Forces, the Palestinian army, remained under Fatah’s control. But Hamas had surrounded Al Suraya, calling on the occupants to surrender, and the compound was under attack today.
Mr. Abbas came under pressure from within Fatah and from some of his other allies to suspend participation in the so-called unity government with Hamas, which began in March, and to declare a state of emergency.
As Hamas tightened its grip on Gaza, the fall of the headquarters of the Fatah-dominated Preventive Security forces, in the Tal el-Hawa district of Gaza City, was especially significant.
It would have powerful resonance for both Fatah and Hamas. Preventive Security is an elite national security force that was founded by Mohammed Dahlan, a Fatah strongman, and was considered to be one of the most important Fatah forces in Gaza.
After the capture of the headquarters, witnesses said Hamas fighters dragged the vanquished Fatah gunmen outside and executed them on the street, The Associated Press reported.
As Hamas moved closer to securing full control of the Gaza Strip, the European Union suspended its humanitarian aid projects in the area, The A.P. said. The European Union also called for a “humanitarian truce” to allow the wounded to be evacuated, the A.P. said.
The powerful Hamas move to exert authority in Gaza and the poor response by the larger security forces supposedly loyal to Fatah have raised troubling questions for Mr. Abbas and Israel and have left the White House, which supports Mr. Abbas, with a dwindling menu of policy options.
Mr. Abbas now faces a putative Palestinian state divided into a West Bank run by Fatah and a Gaza run by Hamas.
Hamas forces had consolidated their control over much of Gaza during fighting on Wednesday. Hamas took command of the main north-south road and blew up a Fatah headquarters in Khan Yunis, in the south.
By Wednesday evening, in northern Gaza and Gaza City, Hamas military men, many of them in black masks, moved unchallenged through the streets as Fatah fighters ran short of arms and ammunition and abandoned their posts.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel has warned of “regional consequences” if Gaza fell under the complete control of Hamas, an Islamist movement that does not recognize Israel’s right to exist. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Hamas control of Gaza would limit Israel’s ability to negotiate with Mr. Abbas, as Washington wants.
Hamas spokesmen said the movement had no political goal except to defend itself from a group within Fatah collaborating with Israel and the United States. They said they wanted to bring the security forces under the control of the unity government, in which Fatah agreed to play a part until the current fighting.
Some Israeli security officials say Israel wants to see the West Bank isolated from Gaza, even more so with Hamas in control there. One official suggested that Hamas’s show of strength in Gaza would make it more likely that the Israeli military would intervene there this summer to cut back Hamas’s military power. The Israeli security services say Hamas, which is able to smuggle weapons and explosives from Egypt, is developing a sophisticated army on the model of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
The Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mark Regev, said Israel did not see “the implosion of the Palestinian Authority in anyone’s interest.” In Gaza, he added, “the clear strength that Hamas is demonstrating on the ground is a problem for us, and a challenge.”
“It’s a problem for the Palestinians, too,” Mr. Regev said. “Our whole policy is to work with moderate pragmatic Palestinians who believe in peace, and Hamas hegemony in Gaza is not good for Israel, for the Palestinians or for peace.”
Since the election victory of Hamas in January 2006, the United States and Israel have worked to isolate and damage Hamas and build up Fatah with recognition and weaponry. Asked whether the Hamas gains showed the failure of that policy, Mr. Regev said: “I don’t think Israel or the international community should give up on Palestinian moderates. That would be a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Some in Israel, however, are beginning to ask whether it might make sense to have indirect discussions with Hamas, which is clearly not going away.

Palestinian breakdown nears as Gaza rages

By mid-afternoon, much of Gaza was reportedly under the control of Hamas gunmen, with pitched street battles continuing in Gaza City near the President's offices and main security headquarters, where Fatah fighters remained entrenched.
Mr Abbas accused Hamas of inciting a coup against his leadership: "All information points to a trend in which some of the political and military leaders of Hamas are planning a coup against the legitimate institutions, thinking they will be able to control the Gaza Strip by force," Mr Abbas' office said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Ismail Haniya, the Palestinian Prime Minister of Hamas, accused Fatah fighters of "collaboration" with Israel.
Hamas officials have demanded all Palestinian security forces submit to the authority of Mr Haniya, vowing to continue fighting until Hamas controlled the whole of the Gaza Strip.
"Certain parties, collaborating with parties hostile to our people have tried to bring down the government of national unity by force," a Hamas official said.
Sami Abu Zuri, a Hamas spokesman, said "We will not stop until security is restored, under our control. If Fatah decides to quit the government, that is their choice. Hamas will study its position if that happens."
The political posturing came as the worst factional fighting among Palestinians in a month intensified, honing in on leaders of both sides. Earlier today, gunmen fired a rocket-propelled grenade at Mr Haniya's home. Later, mortar shells hit Mr Abbas' Gaza city office.
In the last two days, at least 18 Palestinians have been killed in fighting which has been particularly brutal. Some have been killed in execution-style shootings and others have been thrown off buildings.
Some of the fiercest fighting has taken place at Gaza's main hospitals.
The violence spread quickly to the West Bank today, with Fatah gunmen kidnapping Faidi Shabaneh, a high-ranking Hamas politician from his home in Ramallah.
Meanwhile, terrified Gazans huddled in their homes, schools were cancelled and most shops were closed.
Both sides have described the current conflict as an all-out civil war. Mr Abbas has called a meeting tonight of Fatah's Central Committee to decide its next move: "Fatah will in the coming hours decide its position on staying in the unity government and whether to withdraw its members from parliament," his office said in a statement.