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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tejek who wrote (171819)	7/10/2003 7:38:23 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1578704

Abbas Splits from Fatah, May Quit JERUSALEM (July 8) - Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas threatened to quit as prime minister and resigned from his top post in the Fatah movement Tuesday, reflecting a split within the main Palestinian political grouping over negotiations with Israel. Fatah has been thrown in turmoil with some members accusing Abbas of making too many concessions to Israel and demanding he press more for the release of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. The prisoners issue has emerged as a dangerous faultline in a cease-fire by Palestinian militants that is central to efforts to push forward a U.S.-backed peace plan and end 33 months of bloodshed. Monday night, a Palestinian militant blew himself up in central Israel, killing a 65-year-old Israeli woman in the first suicide bombing since the main militant groups declared a cease-fire last week. Members of Islamic Jihad declared their responsibility for the attack, demanding a prisoner release. But Jihad leaders suggested the attack was carried out by renegades and said the group was sticking to the truce. Israel's foreign minister said his country was still committed to the truce, but the defense minister said Israel would hit back. Fatah officials said that Abbas' move might be a ploy aimed at forcing recalcitrant Fatah members to agree to the way he is handling talks with Israel. Abbas quit his post as deputy head of the Fatah Central Committee, the movement's main executive body, headed by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. A Fatah official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Abbas also sent a letter to Arafat threatening to step down as prime minister unless he gets clear instructions from Fatah over how to handle contacts with Israel. Balaawi said, ``I hope that Abu Mazen (Abbas) will change his mind and withdraw his resignation soon.'' Fatah officials were trying to mediate a solution. Abbas called off a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, set for Wednesday. Palestinian officials cited differences over the issue of Israel's release of Palestinian prisoners. There was no word on Abbas' expected visit to the Israeli parliament later this week to lobby for the prisoner release. When Fatah declared a six-month halt to attacks against Israelis on June 29, it demanded that Israel release all of the 6,500 Palestinian prisoners it is holding. Israel, which was not a party to the truce, agreed to free only a few hundred as a goodwill gesture. The Islamic groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which declared three-month truces, have threatened to renew their attacks unless Israel frees all the prisoners. In Lebanon, a Hamas leader who led the negotiations that led to the truce, warned on Tuesday that the cease-fire wouyld fall apart unless the prisoners are freed. ``I don't think the truce will last for long because Sharon has not abided by its provisions,'' Moussa Abu Marzouk told The Associated Press and AP Television News. The claim of responsibility for the Monday night suicide blast also pointed to the prisoner issue. ``Release the prisoners or the consequences will be grave,'' a fax to the AP carrying the Islamic Jihad logo warned. The fax identified the bomber as 22-year-old Ahmed Yehyia from the village of Kufr Rai in the northern West Bank. The village is just south of the West Bank town of Jenin, which is known to be a hotbed of radical militants. Islamic Jihad's political leader in the West Bank, Sheikh Bassam Saadi, said Jenin-based militants probably staged the attack in order to react to Israel's decision not to release prisoners affiliated with the group. But he stressed that ``Islamic Jihad... is committed to the (truce) and it remains so today.'' And Islamic Jihad's top spokesman in Gaza, Nafez Azzam, also distanced the group from the claim, saying: ``We have no knowledge about the claim of responsibility... and are still committed to this initiative and the truce. ... We stand by our word and our commitments.'' Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Tuesday that Israel would continue with peace efforts but had to protect its citizens. ``We will continue operating against this infrastructure,'' he said, referring to the Islamic Jihad.