In bitter wrangling with Hamas, Abbas considers elections
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, appearing energised in his bitter battle with the Islamic Hamas, considered calling a new West Bank election to solidify his standing.
From its new power base in Gaza, Hamas hinted it might try to disrupt voting in the West Bank.
Underscoring Hamas’ increasing isolation, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak rushed to Mr Abbas’ side yesterday, announcing he will host a regional peace summit with Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Jordan’s King Abdullah II. The meeting will take place on Monday in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Mr Abbas will call for a resumption of peace talks with Israel, arguing that only progress toward Palestinian statehood can serve as a true buffer against Hamas.
Speaking in the northern port city of Haifa late yesterday, Mr Olmert said the meeting could mark “a new beginning”. He said US President George Bush hoped to fulfil his goal of creating a Palestinian state before he leaves office in early 2009.
He told Jewish fundraisers that the purpose of the summit was “to jointly work to create a platform that may lead into a new beginning between us and the Palestinians”.
An official in MR Olmert’s office told reporters that the summit would demonstrate Israeli and Arab support for Abbas. Israel would agree to strengthen relations with MR Abbas and could lift some restrictions in the West Bank if Abbas pledges to confront militants there.
However, the goodwill toward Mr Abbas will not change the main fallout from Hamas’ overthrow of Abbas’ Fatah movement in Gaza: it has created a two-headed Palestine, with Hamas in charge of Gaza and Fatah in the West Bank, and that is sure to complicate efforts to forge a peace deal that would establish a Palestinian state.
In Ramallah yesterday, Mr Abbas won backing for his most recent steps against Hamas – throwing it out of the government, outlawing its militias and forming an emergency Cabinet of moderates. The PLO’s Central Council affirmed the steps.
The measures showed that the usually reticent Mr Abbas is hitting back after the lightning Hamas victory in Gaza.
Hamas is not a member of the PLO, which is dominated by Fatah. Although largely inactive in recent years, the PLO considers itself the sole representative of the Palestinian people, and can bestow legitimacy or take it away.
