Arab ministers back Abbas, call for halt to fighting

By DPA

Cairo : The Arab League of Nations backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and called on the rival Palestinian factions "to immediately halt internal fighting and stop shedding Palestinian blood" after an emergency meeting early Saturday.


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The gathering also called on the battling Hamas and Fatah factions to keep unity in the Gaza Strip, eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank.

In a press conference after the six-hour meeting of Arab foreign ministers Friday evening at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Tunisian Foreign Minister Abdul-Raof al-Basti said: "We call for regaining the situation as it used to be in Palestine as well as maintaining the Palestinian unity in Gaza Strip, West Bank and eastern Jerusalem."

The ministers backed the formation of a fact-finding committee of representatives of the Arab Summit, Arab foreign ministers' council, Egypt, Qatar and Jordan and the Arab League to report and follow up on the situation and the Mecca accord.

The ministers announced full support of President Mahmoud Abbas's authority. Abbas dissolved the unity government of Fatah and Hamas Thursday after Hamas militants took over the last Fatah strongholds in the Gaza Strip, and was governing under emergency powers.

The gathering said it would be open to following up on developments of the situation in the Palestinian territories.

Earlier Friday evening, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faysal heavily criticized the fierce clashes between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah, warning against a potential civil war in the Palestinian territories.

Al-Faysal, whose country currently chairs the pan-Arab group, said the Palestinian groups had broken their promises after agreeing to a truce and unity government in Mecca three months ago.

"Were these people the ones who vowed in the holy lands and swore on the holy Quran not to fight again?" al-Faysal said.

"The fellow Palestinians should have stuck to the Mecca accord and worked on implementing it," he said. "This struggle will lead to nothing but ruining the entire Palestinian cause."

He was referring to the Feb 8 agreement between President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah and Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal, who agreed to a national unity government in the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca. There was hope that the agreement would end months of bloody confrontations in the Palestinian territories.

Hamas' military wing took complete control of the Gaza Strip after an all-out assault on Fatah's security forces this week, in which more than 100 people died.

Al-Faysal said the internal fighting had achieved "the Israeli dream of strife inside Palestine".

The "martyrs' blood exerted throughout the long years" of resistance against Israel would "go in vain", he said.

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