Abbas appeals to Gaza's rival factions for orderly elections

1.00pm - By DONALD MACINTYRE in Gaza City

Mahmoud Abbas, the new chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, last night appealed to Gaza's rival factions to unite behind the task of arranging orderly elections 24 hours after a shooting which claimed the life of one of his own bodyguards.

The former Prime Minister, still seen as a highly likely successor to Yasser Arafat as the Palestinian president, met a wide range of organisations including his own conflict-riven Fatah grouping which is due to decide shortly whether to back him as its candidate for the presidency.

His move followed Sunday night's shootout which had exposed some of the intense personal and political rivalries within Fatah in Gaza and started when a group of gunmen started firing into the air in an apparent attempt to undermine a mourning tent ceremony as the PLO leader prepared to receive condolences for Mr Arafat.

The exact details of who caused the incident in which two men were shot dead was still disputed last night. But it was said by local analysts to have thrown a harsh spotlight on the personal hostility to Mahmoud Abbas candidacy by political figures who fear their power could decline without the patronage of Mr Arafat, and on the competing claims of up to a dozen different intelligence and security services.

The meeting came as Sylvan Shalom, the Israeli foreign minister currently touring the US, said publicly for the first time if the new Palestinian leadership "fights against terrorism," Israel will agree to conduct negotiations over co-ordinated implementation of the disengagement plan.

Meanwhile, Amr Moussa, secretary-general of the Arab League, yesterday told the BBC that if both Palestinians and Israelis adhered to the internationally agreed "road map" there was still time for a Palestinian state to be created by the end of 2005.

But he added: "I doubt if Mr Sharon has the political will."

Despite a concerted effort by Mahmoud Abbas (also known as Abu Mazen) and the prominent local Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan who was with him at the time, to play down the significance of Sunday's shooting, Mahmoud Ajrawi, a PLO veteran in Gaza said: "This reflects the current absence of stability and of law, of control. The factions within Fatah are in a power struggle. What happened yesterday is a big issue."

Mr Ajrawi said it underlined the need for the Palestinian leadership to show "100 per cent unity" to fill the vacuum left by Mr Arafat's death. Mr Ajrawi strongly criticised Israel and the US saying that if they had been serious about negotiations for a lasting peace settlement at the same time as urging the Palestinian Authority to take decisive control of the competing security services, it could have been done much earlier.

At the same time Fatah supporters of Mahmoud Abbas' candidacy - who predicted that he would secure it and go on to win the presidential election promised for January 9 - said before last night's meeting that its atmosphere would be helped by the events of Sunday and that many of the factions would recoil from seeing a repeat of them.

Jamal Abu Habil, a member of the Fatah regional council, said: "People will say that this was a frightening scene, and that will have a political impact on what I believe will be a very positive meeting."

Mr Habil added that the transitional leadership under Mahmoud Abbas and Ahmed Qureia "needs to be strong. They need to work very forcefully against anyone who works against the law."

Mr Habil said he had been inside the mourning tent on Sunday, close to the door when he heard shooting outside as Mahmoud Abbas and his security men arrived at the same time as a separate group led by Ahmed Hilles, the Fatah Secretary General.

He had heard shooting outside the tent and saw security men guarding Mahmoud Abbas gather at the entrance to stop other armed men entering. He left the tent to see what was happening and while he was outside one of Mahmoud Abbas' guards was shot two metres from where he had been sitting.

He vehemently denied suggestions that the man had been shot -even accidentally--by one of Mr Dahlan's own security men and added that Mr Dahlan was vital to shoring up support in Gaza for Mahmoud Abbas, with whom he has so far allied himself.

The former Prime Minister "needs Dahlan," he added.

Fatah supporters here of Mr Dahlan, an ambitious member of the younger Fatah generation - though a controversial one with numerous enemies - were predictably dismissive of any claims to the presidency by the imprisoned Fatah leader, Marwan Barghouti, who nevertheless enjoys strong support among younger activists in the West Bank.

- INDEPENDENT