Last update - 00:00 17/12/2006
PM aides to cabinet ministers: Maintain silence on PA feuding
By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent and News Agencies
As aides to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert instructed cabinet ministers against commenting on Hamas-Fatah feuding within the Palestinian Authority, Arab MK Ahmed Tibi (Ra'am-Ta'al), a former advisor to the late PA leader Yasser Arafat, said Sunday that any Israeli involvement in Palestinian infighting will only wealen Fatah.
The Prime Minister's Office on Saturday issued orders to ministers not to make statements about the events in the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' call for early elections.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's aides commented that the political crisis was an internal Palestinian matter, "and we are following the developments with interest."
Tibi said Sunday that he expected government officials to ignore the instructions and to speak out, as they had many times in the past. But he added that such statements were likely only to act against Israel's own interests.
Israeli steps taken to strengthen Abbas will have the opposite effect from the standpoint of the Palestinians, strengthening Hamas at Abbas' expense, Tibi said.
According to Tibi, Abbas does not intend to dismantle the Hamas government, rather he is trying to pressure Hamas toward agreeing to a unity government with Fatah.
Abbas "left the door very open" for the possibility of restarting and accelerating negotiations over a unity government, Tibi told Army Radio. "Declaring new elections without a date is a 'lever' aimed at bringing the sides to the negotiating table."
Security and government sources said there is an Israeli decision in principle to help Abbas' requests on security matters, such as transferring the Bader Force, a Palestinian militia loyal to Abbas, from Jordan to the Gaza Strip. However, it was not clear when this would be done.
Government spokeswoman Miri Eisin said earlier Saturday that Olmert respects Abbas and "hopes that he will have the capability to assert his leadership over the Palestinian people, and to bring about a government that will comply with the international community's principles."
In Cairo, British Prime Minister Tony Blair praised Abbas for "signaling his determination to move on without them (Hamas) if they are unwilling or unable to play a constructive part."
"And I think this is the moment for the international community to come behind him to help build his authority and his capability," said Blair, who is on a tour of the Mideast.
The United States, which has sought to bolster Abbas, said it hoped elections would help calm violence and pave the way for getting the peace process with Israel back on track.
U.S. State Department spokesman Edgar Vasquez called the elections "an issue for the Palestinian people to decide through a peaceful political process."
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Reuters Saturday she would ask Congress for tens of millions of dollars to strengthen Abbas' security forces.
The Russian Foreign Ministry urged the Palestinians in a statement to try to preserve national unity.
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