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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (AP file)
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| By Associated Press May 29, 2006 |
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President Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian faction leaders have agreed to 10 days of intensive talks aimed at resolving critical differences and avoiding a national referendum on recognizing Israel's right to exist.
The Palestinian government has been internationally isolated and suffering a crippling economic boycott since Hamas won Jan. 25 parliamentary elections. The United States and European Union demand the Islamic militant group renounce violence and recognize Israel if it wants aid restored. Hamas has refused.
To force Hamas to soften its position, Abbas urged the group to accept a proposal drafted by militants in Israeli prisons that implicitly accepts Israel's right to exist. If no agreement is reached after 10 days of talks, he said he will call a referendum on the proposal.
Abbas adviser Yasser Abed Rabbo told the AP that starting Monday, the delegations would meet in Ramallah and Gaza twice daily over 10 days to come up with a formula to win back international support and revive Palestinian-Israeli peace talks.
"Ten days starting tomorrow is enough, after which I will have no option but to return to the Palestinian people to carry out a referendum," Abed Rabbo quoted Abbas as telling Sunday's preliminary meeting at his Ramallah headquarters.
Abbas said failure to find a way out of the current impasse would push the Palestinians deeper still into economic and social crisis.
"We must protect our nation and our society from a collapse," he said, adding: "We have to forget about ourselves, about our factions, about our sons and take care of the national problems and issues."
In Putrajaya, Malaysia, the 114-nation Nonaligned Movement urged Hamas and Fatah to end their differences and present a United front.
But Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar criticized the economic boycott of the Hamas-led government.
"The international community must see to the humanitarian needs of the Palestinians," Syed Hamid said.
"If you want a state of Palestine, where the people are given fairness and justice, this is the time it should be done. They should not be punished for exercising their democratic rights," he said, referring to Hamas' election victory.
Meanwhile, Israeli government officials said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik on June 4 -- their first meeting since Olmert won Israel's March 28 elections.
Mubarak wants Olmert to restart long-stalled peace talks with Abbas. Olmert has said he would try to reach a peace agreement through negotiations. But if those fall through, he would unilaterally pull out of much of the West Bank, strengthen major settlement blocs and set Israel's borders with the Palestinians.
Mubarak's spokesman, Suleiman Awad, said the two leaders would discuss preparations for a future summit meeting between Egypt, Israel and the Palestinians.
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