Hamas and Fatha use deadly arguments in their fight for power in Plaestine. Here, mourners carry of the body of a Fatah member who was killed in Gaza City, Monday, December 18, 2006.
Photo: AP
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The West Steps into Palestine Conflict
British Prime Minister Tony Blair visited Ramallah yesterday after leaving Israel and expressed his support for head of the Palestinian Autonomy Mahmoud Abbas's desire to hold early parliamentary and presidential elections. That decision has brought the autonomy to the brink of civil war. Blair's support is not likely to bring peace between the pro-presidential Fatha Party and radical Hamas. Fighting between them continued in Gaza yesterday.
At a joint press conference with Abbas after their negotiations, Blair tried to show that the West was fully on Abbas's side. “This is the moment for the international community to come behind him, to help build his authority and his capability, to deliver improvements in the living standards of the Palestinian people,” Blair said of Abbas, who also urged that an international initiative be set up to lessen the suffering of the Palestinian people and help restore the ravaged economy.
The Palestinian leader reiterated his decision to hold early elections. ““We are going to hold early elections, parliamentary and presidential. There is nothing we can see that can stop us,” he said, adding that political pluralism does not mean doubled authority, armed groups or disorder. He said it was time to find out if the popular support expressed for Hamas in the elections in January remains. He also called on Blair to unfreeze international aid for the autonomy.
Hamas and it multitude of supporters do not intend to give up power that easily. Hamas holds that early elections are unconstitutional and it has already shown that it is capable of sanding up to Abbas and his Fatha Party. The ceasefire reached the evening before was violated yesterday in Gaza, with gunfights breaking out near Abbas's residence and spreading to other neighborhoods of the city. It is clear that, if Abbas dismisses the cabinet of Islam Khaniya, civil war will erupt in Palestine, which could split into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and Fatha-controlled West Bank.
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All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 19, 2006
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