World

Hamas Talks Peace With Fatah, Israel

May 23, 2006 / 7:38 AM EDT / CBS/AP

Deadly internal fighting will not escalate into a full-blown civil war, Hamas' prime minister Ismail Haniyeh pledged Tuesday, prior to high-level meetings of rival Palestinian factions aimed at ending spiraling violence in the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, of the rival Fatah Party, said after talks with Hamas officials that all sides should work to avoid further tensions.

Haniyeh, in an unusual interview with an Israeli newspaper, also is offering a long-term truce to Israel in exchange for Israel's withdrawal to the 1967 borders.

The talks in Gaza City between Palestinian factions came after two weeks of deadly clashes between Hamas militiamen and gunmen linked to Abbas' Fatah movement. The fighting has been fueled by a bitter power struggle between the Hamas government and Abbas. On Monday, in the heaviest battle yet, an aide to the Jordanian ambassador was killed in crossfire and 11 people were wounded in Gaza City.

Tensions have been soaring in Gaza since the Hamas government last week deployed a 3,000-strong force of Hamas militants. The new militia poses a challenge to the Fatah-dominated Palestinian security forces. Armed men from both camps have been patrolling the streets in large numbers, often taking up positions close to each other.

In other developments:

The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation on Tuesday to further deny aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority. The measure, approved by a vote of 361-37, would cut off aid to non governmental organization working in the West Bank and Gaza — except for health programs — and would deny visas to members of the Palestinian Authority. It would also ban contracts with Hamas due to its listing as a terrorist organization.

The United States is encouraging Israel to hold "serious talks" with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as an alternative to the Hamas-dominated Palestinian Authority. The advice was publicized Tuesday by White House press secretary Tony Snow before Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called on President Bush. "We are interested in making sure that the prime minister has serious talks with his Palestinian counterpart," Snow said. Olmert is set to present an ambitious plan to Mr. Bush, calling for unilateral Israeli withdrawals from much of the West Bank, reports

After an eight-year hunt, Israeli troops arrested the leader of the Hamas military wing in the West Bank. The army says Ibrahim Hamed masterminded a string of suicide bombings that killed 55 people. He surrendered, stripped to his underwear, at his home in the West Bank town of Ramallah, just 200 yards from the residence of Abbas.

Israel is considering canceling plans to buy about 100 state-of-the-art F-35 warplanes from the U.S. for hundreds of millions of dollars. Israel wants to upgrade the planes with its own hi-tech warfare systems, considered the best in the world. But the U.S. has rejected Israel's request, because the Israeli systems provides stiff competition to American companies. Officials in Israel say Israeli technology gives Israel the strategic edge over its enemies, reports Berger.

Israel's chief Sephardic rabbi has decided to recognize the divorce decrees and conversions to Judaism of just 50 Orthodox rabbis abroad, forcing the remainder to undergo tests in Israel before their documents will be accepted, a rabbinical official said Tuesday. Israel's rabbinate only recognizes conversions and divorces conducted by Orthodox rabbis. The more liberal Conservative and Reform branches of Judaism are not accepted at all, long a source of friction between Israel's rabbinate and Jewish communities abroad.

Haniyeh said Tuesday he was certain the fighting would not spin out of control.

"We are concerned about ending this crisis. The term civil war does not exist in our dictionary," Haniyeh said at the start of the meeting. "I assure our people that we can overcome these incidents. These incidents have taken place before and we have overcome the similar incidents."

After Abbas led a similar meeting of all factions in the West Bank city of Ramallah, he said he was hopeful that a round of "national dialogue" talks slated to begin Thursday could help the sides iron out their differences.

"Each one of us feels the national cause is in danger so we have to work to make sure this dialogue succeeds," Abbas told reporters.

Palestinian factions have in the past been able to pull back from the brink of widespread internal fighting. However, with Hamas' rise to power after January parliament elections, both political camps appeared to have new means and motives to try to settle their differences by force.

Some in Fatah are confident they will emerge victorious and be returned to power, or at least cause enough chaos to bring down Hamas. Hamas officials believe the new force is the only way they can assert power and gain respect after Abbas seized control of the Palestinian security branches.

Monday's fighting created new complications for Hamas. TV footage strongly suggests that the aide to the Jordanian ambassador was killed by Hamas fire, and Jordan has demanded a quick investigation. Tensions between Hamas and Jordan had been high even before the incident, with Jordan accusing the group of trying to smuggle weapons into the kingdom and plotting attacks.

The body of the aide, Khaled Radaida, 55, was flown to Jordan for burial on Tuesday.

The internal fighting comes at a time when the Hamas government is getting increasingly desperate for cash. Western sanctions have left it broke and unable to pay the salaries of 165,000 civil servants for the past two months.

Arab and Muslim countries have donated tens of millions of dollars, but Hamas can't bring the money into Gaza because banks refuse to transfer it, for fear of running afoul of U.S. anti-terror regulations.

The Palestinian foreign minister, Mahmoud Zahar, was to leave Tuesday for a fund-raising trip to Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia, China and Sri Lanka.

The Hamas prime minister, meanwhile, for the first time addressed an Israeli audience, granting an interview to the Haaretz daily. Hamas has rejected Western demands that it recognize Israel and renounce violence.

Haniyeh reiterated his demand that Israel withdraw to boundaries it has already rejected, offering in return a long-term cease-fire that falls well short of a formal peace treaty.

"If Israel withdraws to the 1967 borders, peace will prevail and we will implement a cease-fire for many years," he told Haaretz. "Our government is prepared to maintain a long-term cease-fire with Israel."

Israel has already said that it will never return to the 1967 borders, which would mean giving up Jerusalem's sacred Old City, reports Berger. Israeli officials say the meaning of a long-term truce is that once Hamas is strong enough, it will resume its quest to destroy the Jewish state.

The arrest of Hamed was seen as a blow to Hamas' morale. A university graduate, he became the West Bank commander of the Hamas military wing, Izzedine al Qassam, in December 2003.

Israeli army Col. Amir Abulafiyeh, who oversaw the capture, described the fugitive as "creative and cruel" in plotting attacks, including on an Israeli fuel depot, Israel's rail system, a university cafeteria and a pool hall.