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Arab League stands by Abbas, appeals for calm

A Palestinian youth raises his hand and shouts slogans during a rally by the group in Gaza City on Friday. The Palestinian territories have essentially been split into two parts. Gaza is now under the control of Hamas, an Islamist movement with close ties to Syria and Iran. The West Bank, home to most of the Palestinian population, is dominated by the more moderate Fatah, which has ties to Israel and the West. PHOTO: AP

Arab countries on Friday threw their support behind Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' leadership but also urged an immediate halt to infighting so that the unity of Palestinian lands could be preserved.

The call came after an emergency session of Arab League foreign ministers on how to deal with the Palestinian split after militant Hamas gained full control of Gaza.

"We are seeking a national unity in Palestine and we stand against the events that we have witnessed in the last days," said Amr Moussa, the League chief, adding there must be an "immediate and full halt" to the violence.

Moussa said that Arab countries want to "serve the Palestinian cause, and not one faction against another." The fighting is "unacceptable" for the Arab world, he said.

In the West Bank, Abbas moved quickly to cement his rule there after losing Gaza in a swift five-day Hamas assault on his forces. He replaced Prime minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, with Finance Minister Salam Fayyad, an internationally respected economist.

Abbas initially said a new government would be sworn in later on Friday, then postponed the event without explanation.

The League backed Abbas' move, saying that the "legitimacy of his leadership" must be respected.

Meanwhile, in a stark message to Hamas militants now in control of Gaza, Egypt pulled its diplomatic mission out of the coastal strip, citing security reasons. The mission's 18 members crossed into Egypt late on Friday, officials at the Rafah border crossing said.

Earlier, Jordan, which fears instability on its own soil if the Palestinian civil war moves into the neighboring West Bank, underlined its backing for Abbas's government.

The government rejects "any dissent or defiance to the legitimate authority" and stressed "the necessity to protect the Palestinian National Authority and its president Mahmoud Abbas," spokesman Nasser Judeh said in a statement carried by the official Petra news agency.

Jordan's King Abdullah called Abbas to express sadness for what was described as the "deteriorating situation in Gaza" and called for an immediate end to the bloody infighting among Palestinians, Petra reported.

Roughly half of Jordan's 5.5 million population is Palestinian and if the fighting should spread to the West Bank, it could spark similar fighting between the factions' supporters in the kingdom.

Egypt has beefed up security on its border with Gaza to prevent any mass flight of Palestinians into Egypt. Long term, it faces the possibility the impoverished coastal territory of 1.4 million people -- already awash in weapons -- could become a breeding ground of militancy that could bleed over the porous border.

Close to 100 Palestinian Fatah officials crossed into Egypt from Gaza Strip in the early hours on Friday, fleeing the Hamas takeover, Egyptian police said. Hours later, an Egyptian security delegation in Gaza also crossed, returning home after failing its mediation efforts between the warring factions, said an official at the Rafah border crossing.

No Hamas representative attended the Arab League meeting but Fatah's envoy at the gathering, Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Azzam al-Ahmed, handed Moussa a list of violations committed by Hamas and called on Arab sates to have a decisive stance in dealing with the crisis, said an Egyptian official who declined to be identified.

However, the organization can hardly do more than plead with the Palestinians for calm and reconciliation. Though calm returned to Gaza on Friday as Hamas consolidated its position, there was no sign of the rift between Hamas and Fatah healing.
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