GAZA CITY, 2 May 2006 — A cross-party conference seeking to tackle mounting political and fiscal crises among Palestinians was shelved yesterday amid a power struggle between the Hamas government and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Abbas’ office had sent invitations to various armed factions and the Palestine Liberation Organization on Saturday for a May 2-4 forum to discuss the situation, reinforce unity and confront the financial crisis.
But on the eve of the three-day meeting, Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of the political committee of Palestinian Parliament, said the conference had been shelved given the power struggle between Abbas and the governing Hamas.
“There is a problem about the dialogue with all the parties which must take place at another time,” Abdullah, an MP for Abbas’ Fatah faction, told AFP.
“Abu Mazen (Abbas) sent out the invitations for the conference which he would have chaired but yesterday we found out that (Hamas Prime Minister) Ismail Haniyeh and his Cabinet want to be in charge of the dialogue themselves.” Visiting Amman after a European tour, Abbas expressed hope that the talks not be put off indefinitely.
“The inter-Palestinian dialogue is important and vital during this time when we are facing dangerous and even catastrophic situations,” he said.
“I don’t know why but some people felt that it should be postponed. Maybe it will be a short postponement. In any case it should not be indefinite.” Although talks had been requested by Hamas Parliament Speaker Aziz Dweik, government spokesman Ghazi Hamad called for further preparation and stressed the Islamists would accept nothing that branded its new government ineffective.
“We need more preparation between Fatah and Hamas because if we can reach agreement between us, then the greater the dialogue’s chances of success.
“I think we need a week or two to prepare and present ideas from the various parties. We will support any proposal in the national interest but one that considers the government ineffective will be turned down,” said Hamad.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the Islamists had not been officially informed about the conference in the first place, a charge also leveled by Khaled Al-Batsh, the Gaza-based leader of its radical rival, Islamic Jihad.
“We need more coordination and preparation to get results,” Batsh told AFP.
“The priorities are to end the occupation, stop Zionist violence and crimes... then we can talk about domestic problems,” he added.
Meanwhile, bolstered by support from Jordan and Egypt, Abbas said yesterday he is “ready” to negotiate with Israel and vowed to “prod” the so-called Quartet of Mideast peacemakers to jumpstart talks.
“We are ready to negotiate with the Israeli government on the basis of the road map,” Abbas said after meeting with Jordan’s King Abdallah at a hilltop palace in Amman.
In another development, after three weeks of negotiations, Israel’s interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert yesterday put together a coalition government that backs his plan to pull out of parts of the West Bank and draw Israel’s final borders by 2010.
Olmert announced key Cabinet appointments, naming Tzipi Livni, a pragmatic jurist and rising star in Israeli politics, as vice premier and foreign minister. Livni had served as acting foreign minister in recent months. Outgoing Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, who only belatedly threw his support behind Olmert, got a relatively minor portfolio.
In the West Bank town of Tulkarm, meanwhile, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian woman while trying to arrest an Islamic Jihad fighter hiding in the woman’s apartment building, the army said.
The soldiers fired at the house when they saw suspicious movement, killing Itaf Zalat, 41, and wounding her two daughters, the army said. The army apologized for the shooting and said it was investigating.
The woman’s husband, Yousef, 48, said the shots came without warning. “They shot at a home with people living in it, civilians,” he said. “We have done nothing. They didn’t even knock on the door to tell me to get out. I would have gotten out.”
In Israel, coalition talks ended late Sunday when Olmert informed President Moshe Katsav that he had formed a government that controls a majority in Parliament.
Olmert’s Kadima party won a March election, but did not win enough seats in the 120-member Parliament to rule alone. The agreement signed with the ultra-Orthodox Shas party late Sunday, along with support from the left-center Labor Party and from the Pensioners’ Party, gives Olmert a majority of 67 in Parliament.
Labor and the Pensioners are expected to support Olmert’s West Bank plan without hesitation. However, the hawkish Shas insisted that it not be forced to commit now to the program which would require the dismantling of dozens of Jewish settlements. Olmert is not expected to launch the plan for another year to 18 months.
— With input from agencies
