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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Sunday (AP)
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Seriously wounded Palestinian intelligence chief Tareq Abu Rajab, an ally of Abbas, is wheeled across the Erez crossing to be taken for treatment in an Israeli hospital Saturday. (AP)
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| By Associated Press May 21, 2006 |
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| PA President Mahmoud Abbas, left, meets with Israeli FM Tzipi Livni, right, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, Sunday. (AP) |
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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he would open a dialogue with Hamas leaders within the week in a bid to end violence that has rocked the Gaza Strip.
"There is a crisis. We have to look for a solution," he told reporters at a news conference Saturday on the fringe of the World Economic Forum at this Egyptian Red Sea resort. "A dialogue will be opened within the next four or five days."
The moderate Palestinian leader also said that there was no path forward for his people but to seek peace with Israel.
Abbas' Fatah movement and the militant Hamas organization that now runs the Palestinian government are caught in an increasingly violent power struggle focused on control of the security apparatus in Gaza and are deeply divided on contacts with Israel.
Hamas refuses to recognize the Jewish state and rejects international calls for it to disarm.
"I have no other option than to seek the road of peace. ...Our hands will remain extended in peace. Peace is the only option," Abbas said. The Palestinian leader said he would tell officials he was to meet on Sunday that he remains opposed to unilateral Israeli actions to separate itself from the Palestinians.
"The only basis for both sides is the road map," he said, referring to the plan that was worked out by the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia. The effort has been stalled nearly from its inception.
Abbas's meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Vice Premier Shimon Peres will be the highest-level session between Israel and the Palestinians since Hamas won its surprise legislative victory in January.
Abbas hopes to use Sunday's session to open the way for talks with new Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert after he returns from the United States later this week.
Earlier Saturday, Abbas said an explosion that rocked the Palestinian Authority intelligence headquarters - killing one and wounding nine - was a "grave danger" to Palestinian solidarity.
Fatah security officials in Gaza said the explosion was an assassination attempt on security chief Tareq Abu Rajab, who was seriously wounded. Nine other people were hurt.
"This a very unfortunate incident and annoying at the same time and threatens (the Palestinian Authority) with grave danger," Abbas said as he emerged from a meeting with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick. The two also met on the sidelines of the annual economic gathering to deal with Mideast economic, political and social issues.
Abbas was expected to have pressed Zoellick for a resumption of U.S. aid, which was cut off by both Washington and the European Union over Hamas' refusal to recognize Israel and disarm.
Abbas had lunch with President Hosni Mubarak and was to hold meetings with the Egyptian leader on Sunday.
Palestinian security forces confiscate $817,000 from Hamas official at Gaza-Egypt
A senior Hamas official on Friday tried to sneak $817,000 into the Gaza Strip, hiding 500-euro bills in a white pouch tucked under his shirt in the first major cash smuggling attempt by an increasingly desperate Hamas government choked by Western economic sanctions.
Palestinian security forces confiscated the cash at the Egypt-Gaza border and moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas' main political rival, ordered a criminal investigation. Abbas' decision was bound to further heighten tensions, after police loyal to Abbas and a new Hamas militia exchanged fire earlier Friday.
Hamas demanded that the money be returned, saying it was collected among private donors abroad and intended for Gaza's poor. The alleged smuggler, Hamas spokesman Abu Zuhri, "resorted to this way ... when all other ways were blocked," said government official Ghazi Hamad.
Hamas has been unable to bring tens of millions in aid from Arab and Muslim countries into Gaza because Arab banks, afraid to run afoul of U.S. anti-terrorism legislation, refuse to transfer the money. The West froze massive aid to the Palestinian Authority when Hamas came to power in March. The new government has been unable to pay 165,000 civil servants, whose income feeds one-third of the Palestinians.
Hamas has been digging in, rejecting Western demands that it recognize Israel and renounce violence.
It has launched fund-raising drives in mosques, asking worshippers to donate to the public coffers. In one Gaza City mosque, about 500 people dropped cash and gold jewelry into collection boxes after Friday prayers.
However, the campaign appears largely symbolic, since the government needs $160 million a month to pay salaries and provide basic services.
Abu Zuhri, the Hamas spokesman, was returning from Qatar on Friday when he was caught with the cash by Palestinian border guards at the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza.
Travelers must declare any sum over $2,000 and explain where the money came from, said Julio De La Guardia, spokesman for European observers at the crossing. Abu Zuhri carried the money in a white pouch under his shirt and jacket. "He did not declare that money, he tried to smuggle it," De La Guardia said.
Dozens of Hamas gunmen briefly blocked the crossing after the money was confiscated. Abu Zuhri was escorted out of the terminal by another Hamas official. "We are upset to be dealt with this way at a time when the Palestinian people are suffering from siege and starvation," Abu Zuhri told the Arab satellite TV station Al-Jazeera.
Abbas sent the money to the Palestinian attorney general, with the request to open an investigation against Abu Zuhri, said Saeb Erekat, an Abbas adviser.
Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of Hamas' political bureau based in Damascus, Syria, said the money should be returned. "This money is part of the money supporting the Palestinian people which the (Palestinian) Authority cannot confiscate," Abu Marzouk told The Associated Press.
In another area of dispute, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said Friday he would not disband the new Hamas security force, made up of militants, and might even expand it. Hamas deployed the 3,000-strong force earlier this week, despite Abbas' vehement opposition.
The deployment has considerably raised tensions in Gaza, with Palestinian police loyal to Abbas increasing their presence in the streets, as a counterweight to the heavily armed Hamas gunmen.
Before dawn Friday, two policemen and a Hamas gunman were wounded in a gunfight near the Palestinian parliament building and the police headquarters.
However, Abbas rules out using force to disband the Hamas militia, said an aide, Tayeb Abdel Rahim.
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