IMRA Newsletter
Text: Reuters Report misunderstood: Abbas not seizing Weapons
Abbas Vows Arms Crackdown Before Palestinian Vote
Wed Nov 17, 2004 04:35 PM ET
Reuters
www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=6845456
[IMRA: This item was widely interpreted in Israel as meaning that Abbas plans to seize illegal weapons when in fact he only asks that they not be shown in public. It should be noted that if a "hudna" should go into effect it would mean that Palestinian groups would be free to build up their armories and forces without Israeli interference and with, as Abbas puts it, the PA's only concern that the weapons, for the time being, don't get on television. Egypt is trying to broker such a hudna and it would not be surprising if the "carrot" they are offering the various terror groups is to permit an increase in both the quantity and quality of weapons crossing from Egypt to the Gaza Strip.]
GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday vowed a crackdown on armed groups operating in Palestinian areas in order to smooth the way to a Jan. 9 presidential election for a successor to Yasser Arafat.
Abbas also urged Israel to halt "aggressive" military action in the West Bank and Gaza to help him restore order before the vote in his first media interview since taking over as head of the Palestine Liberation Organization after the death of Arafat. "Steps will be taken to end the public display or show of arms," Abbas told Reuters, saying action would be taken before the election. "We have to move on to a new era.
"We will act firmly against anyone who violates the law so that we can make the citizens feel secure."
But in promising to tackle factional lawlessness, Abbas left unclear whether security forces would curb militants preparing attacks on Israelis -- a key demand of a U.S.-backed peace plan envisaging a Palestinian state.
U.S. diplomats set to meet Abbas next week hope the election will install a moderate president mandated to talk peace with Israel. But without a crackdown on militants, Israel will be loath to ease army blockades or halt raids disruptive to a vote. Abbas said on Wednesday that Palestinians faced a crucial test in preventing an internal slide into chaos after Arafat, as rival factions jockey for power.
"This period is a test for the Palestinian leadership and the Palestinian people to show they are capable of establishing the independent Palestinian state," he said.
Talks between Abbas and militant factions have so far produced no agreement for suspending suicide bombings and other attacks on Israelis in a four-year-old Palestinian uprising.
"Abu Mazen (Abbas's nom de guerre) warned faction leaders that if there is no calm, Israel might use this as a pretext to hinder elections with military action," one official said. "They all signaled opposition to a truce unless Israel reciprocates."
ABBAS CAUTIOUS WITH MILITANTS
But Abbas, who narrowly escaped injury in a gunfight on Sunday between his bodyguards and militants, won a verbal pledge at talks with leaders of Fatah armed groups as well as Hamas and Islamic Jihad earlier on Wednesday to work to restore internal order, political sources said.
"I did not ask for a truce (toward Israel) directly. We call for calm within the framework of reorganizing the internal situation," said Abbas, an opponent of violence who has been denounced by some militants as a stooge of Israel.
Abbas is likely to be the main Fatah movement's candidate to succeed Arafat as president on a platform of renewed talks. Under U.S. pressure to help the temporary collective leadership that has replaced Arafat gain control on the ground, Israel has indicated it is now limiting military strikes to targeting "ticking bombs" -- militants on the way to an attack.
But Prime Minister Ariel Sharon rules out any cease-fire or renewal of peace moves unless Palestinian leaders bottle up the militants. Militants agreed to suspend attacks when Abbas was prime minister in 2003. But the truce crumbled in weeks. A U.S.-backed "road map" toward Palestinian statehood has been stalled since.
Faction sources said Hamas and Islamic Jihad also told Abbas they would probably not field candidates for president, sticking to a policy of boycotting Palestinian self-rule institutions that might deal with Israel, which both groups want to destroy.
Outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell is due to visit Israel and the West Bank on Monday, lending weight to President Bush's vow to help create a Palestinian state in Israel-occupied areas during his second four-year term.
(Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza)