Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat asked militant groups yesterday to reinstate a unilateral truce they formally abandoned last week, after an Israeli missile strike killed a senior Hamas leader.
A statement by his office said Arafat is calling on the armed groups to renew their commitment to a truce and "to give a chance to political and peaceful efforts by the international community to implement the road map," a reference to a US-backed peace plan.
Arafat issued the statement at a time when he is under growing US pressure to relinquish control over Palestinian security forces to help his beleaguered prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, carry out a crackdown on Hamas, Islamic Jihad and armed renegades in Arafat's Fatah movement. Arafat has refused to give up control, despite direct appeals by the US.
Raanan Gissin, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said Arafat's statement was meaningless.
"Arafat has never stopped supporting the strategy of terror," Gissin said. "He has over 60 percent of the Palestinian Authority forces under his control and has done nothing with them to pursue a peaceful solution. He has no interest in a peaceful solution."
The armed groups declared June 29 that they are halting attacks on Israel for three months, but later changed the terms, saying they have the right to retaliate for Israeli military strikes. Under the umbrella of the cease-fire, the militants carried out three bombings, including last week's Jerusalem bus attack that killed 21 Israelis. In retaliation, Israel killed a Hamas leader, Ismail Abu Shanab, in a missile strike, prompting militant groups to formally call off the truce.
Israel has said from the start the truce was an internal Palestinian matter and that it feared this was a ploy to allow militants to regroup. However, for the first two months of the truce, Israel cut back on military strikes, only to intensify them after the Jerusalem bombing.
Islamic Jihad, one of the militant groups, said yesterday it is open to renewing talks on he terms of a cease-fire, said a spokesman, Nafez Azzam. Hamas officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
Meanwhile, Abbas met with Cabinet ministers in Gaza yesterday, seeking their support in a tough fight for political survival in parliament next week.
Abbas has asked the legislature to convene Monday for a vote of confidence, parliament officials said. Abbas is to deliver a speech on the achievements of his first 100 days in office.
There is some speculation that Abbas might lose the vote. Some in Abbas' inner circle have said he is disheartened by the constant criticism from his own Fatah movement; senior figures in Fatah have said Abbas has failed to produce tangible achievements in his negotiations with Israel.
Abbas was installed April 30, after Arafat reluctantly appointed him under intense US pressure. However, Arafat has tried at every turn to limit Abbas' authority.
Abbas staked his political future on being able to rein in Palestinian militants through persuasion, rather than force. The effort has collapsed in a new spiral of violence.
The US-backed "road map" peace plan requires Abbas to dismantle militant groups, but US mediators had given Abbas some time to try to secure calm without using force against Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Abbas convened his Cabinet in Gaza City yesterday, and was to hold talk with legislators from the Gaza Strip later in the day. Aides said he would try to persuade them to support him in Monday's vote in parliament. Thirty-five of parliament's 83 legislators are from the Gaza Strip.
Kadoura Fares, a Fatah lawmaker, said he and some of his colleagues were tired of the power struggle between Abbas and Arafat.
"If this [fighting between Abbas and Arafat] continues, then one of them will have to be pushed aside," said Fares, adding that in this case Abbas should step down since he was appointed, not elected like Arafat.
"We can decide to find someone else to do his job, someone who can get along better," said Fares, who has also been critical of Arafat in the past.
Abbas blamed some of his troubles on Israel's decision to intensify its hunt for wanted Palestinians, including three air strikes that killed seven Hamas activists and a bystander in the past week in Gaza City.
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