Palestinian Talks Back To 'Square One'
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday that his agreement with the ruling Hamas militant group on forming a more moderate coalition government was off.
"There is no dialogue now," Abbas said at a news conference with Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa.
A preliminary coalition agreement between Abbas' Fatah Party and Hamas, announced on Sept. 11, "is over now, and we have to start from square one," he said, not ruling out the renewal of talks at a later date.
Abbas also said a new Cabinet must be formed to end a recent surge in violence that claimed 10 lives in three days. He did not elaborate, but Abbas holds wide-ranging constitutional powers that include the authority to disband the current government.
A Hamas Cabinet minister, giving a dramatically different assessment of the situation, said the two sides were on the verge of forming a government, possibly one made up of professionals, not politicians.
In other developments:
Hamas entered the preliminary coalition agreement with Fatah under pressure from crushing Western economic sanctions that have generated widening protests against the government.
But talks foundered last week over Hamas' refusal to recognize Israel — a key demand of Western powers — and infighting quickly followed. The infighting was the deadliest since Hamas took office in March and heightened fears of a full-scale civil war.
"There are many bloody events now, and we need to end this crisis as soon as possible, reach a solution and form a new Cabinet," Abbas told reporters.
Asked if he would use his powers to dissolve the government, he replied: "My constitutional authority will be used at the appropriate time. ... We are going to see how to deal with the solution. All doors are open."
If he were to disband the government, Abbas could either form a new cabinet or call new elections.
New elections would be a risky move because a Fatah victory would not be guaranteed. A recent poll showed Fatah would tie with Hamas if a vote were held now. The poll also indicated that voters consider Abbas less trustworthy than Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas.
Public Works Minister Abdel Rahman Zaidan of Hamas, taking issue with Abbas' view of the situation, said the two sides were in "the final stages" of forming a so-called national unity government.
"There is serious thinking within Hamas to form a national unity government which is composed of professionals, basically, not political faces," Zaidan said. "This government would not be headed by a Hamas leader."
An Abbas confidant, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a government of professionals would be a way out of the current crisis.
But another aide to Abbas said no new government would be able to avoid recognizing Israel.
"What matters is the program of the government," Saeb Erekat said. "The program of the government must reflect the principles Abu Mazen (Abbas) specified in his speech at the U.N." — namely, recognition of Israel.
Efforts to restart long-stalled peacemaking should not be derailed by the Hamas-Fatah crisis, Erekat said, shortly before Rice was to arrive in Ramallah for talks with Abbas.
"It will not harm anyone to move the peace process forward" in tandem, he said.
In previous stops in the Mideast, Rice has expressed the U.S. commitment to revive peacemaking and shore up Abbas in his face-off with Hamas. Washington views Abbas, who was elected in a separate
Arab nations, including the few moderate states that are key to U.S. goals in Iraq, Iran and Lebanon, view improving the Palestinians' lot as essential. They argue that the festering grievances of the stateless Palestinians feed unrest and radicalism elsewhere.
"The issue is how to make peace, and in order to make peace you have to identify the problem," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said during a sometimes strained news conference with Rice.
"We think and we claim and we keep telling everybody that it is the Palestinian problem, and the lack of a settlement for the Palestinians. The Palestinian problem is the scourge of this region," Gheit said.
Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said the nearly 60-year-old conflict was creating a "breeding ground for extremism."
"There is a very short step from extremism to terrorism," Saud said with Rice by his side in Jedda, Saudi Arabia. "And ever since the problem arose of Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the region has been destabilized."