JERUSALEM, 27 June 2007 — President Mahmoud Abbas has asked Israel for permission to bring Palestinian forces based in Jordan to the West Bank to try to shore up his control after Hamas’ Gaza takeover, Israeli officials said yesterday.

Abbas met Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert at the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, seeking support for the emergency government he appointed in the occupied West Bank after dismissing a unity government led by Hamas.

“The Palestinians put in a request yesterday to transfer the Badr Brigade from Jordan to the West Bank,” a senior Israeli government official said. “It is being evaluated and a decision will be made soon.” Olmert’s spokeswoman, Miri Eisin, was noncommittal on the Palestinian request, saying: “It’s being evaluated but nothing more ... It’s being checked.”

Abbas’ prime minister, Salam Fayyad, would neither confirm nor deny any plans to deploy Badr. He said: “I cannot really comment on that for the time being.” Israel wants Abbas to do more to rein in militants and has been considering providing his forces with additional weapons. Abbas, leader of the Fatah faction which dominates the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), had initially intended to send the Badr Brigade into the Gaza Strip to try to stop militants from firing makeshift rockets into Israel. That deployment did not start and appears unlikely anytime soon with Hamas in firm control of the coastal territory.

In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the Badr forces, like all Palestinians, should be allowed to return to their lands — but not deployed to fight Hamas. By some accounts, the Badr Brigade has less than 1,000 well-trained fighters. Others say it has up to 2,000 men.

Meanwhile, Western powers struggled yesterday to finalize a role for outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair as Middle East envoy in their bid to revive the peace process. A statement from the so-called Quartet mediators — the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations — was delayed by Russian foot-dragging, diplomats said.

“Stay tuned,” US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters with a smile as she flew home after a 48-hour trip to Paris, when asked if Blair was about to be named Quartet envoy. “I certainly hope that this role is going to be filled because I think it is very important,” Rice said.

The EU’s Middle East envoy, Marc Otte, told reporters after the group met in Jerusalem that Blair was the only candidate under consideration for the post but that the Quartet was awaiting final approval from Russia.

“The deal is not done,” Otte said. The Russian envoy has to consult with his superiors, he added.

In another development, the Palestinian extremists claiming to hold BBC journalist Alan Johnston issued a chilling threat to slaughter him “like a lamb” unless Britain and Jordan release Muslim prisoners. In a statement e-mailed to Agence France Presse, the Army of Islam demanded the release of an Iraqi woman, Sajida Al-Rishawi, who has been sentenced to death in Jordan over triple hotel attacks in Amman that killed 60 people in November 2005. It also demanded the release of Abu Mohammed Al-Maqdissi — held in Jordan since July 2005 — and Palestinian-born Abu Qatada once accused of being Al-Qaeda’s “spiritual head” in Europe and held in Britain.