Abbas presses peace agenda ahead of Hamas rule

Mahmoud Abbas

GAZA - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said today he could overrule Hamas if it continues to block peacemaking with Israel, days before the expected inauguration of the Islamic militant group's government.

"I will exercise my mandate and authority where and when they are needed to protect the higher interests of the Palestinian people," Abbas wrote to Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas' prime minister-designate, in a letter copied to reporters.

The Palestinian Legislative Council convenes on Monday for a confidence vote on the 24-member cabinet, the day before Israel's general election.

Ratification is seen as certain given the Hamas majority in parliament after it swept January elections. Haniyeh said his government would be sworn in by Wednesday.

One of the few independents in the Hamas cabinet, a Christian who had been named minister of tourism, said he had told Haniyeh he would not assume the post because he had to take care of his business interests.

The president is empowered by law to fire Haniyeh if his policies are deemed harmful to the national interest.

Formally committed to the Jewish state's destruction, Hamas is rejected as a peace partner by Israel and much of the West, and Abbas, whose long-dominant Fatah faction seeks a Palestinian state alongside Israel, has appealed for Hamas to change.

In a flare-up in violence, the Israeli army said it fired two missiles at roads in northern Gaza leading to where militants launch rockets into Israel. Palestinian police said war planes fired the missiles. There was no information on any casualties.

The Israeli army also said it shot and wounded a Palestinian trying to infiltrate through a fence separating the Gaza Strip from Israel. Palestinian witnesses said the man was not moving and medics could not reach him.

Abbas has resisted foreign pressure to crack down on Hamas and other factions waging a more than 5-year-old Palestinian revolt for fear of civil war.

"Once your government assumes its responsibilities I ask you again to ... make the necessary corrections to your programme," the president said in his letter to Haniyeh.

Although it masterminded nearly 60 suicide bombings against Israelis since 2000, Hamas has largely abided by a ceasefire declared last year.

Faced with the threat of international aid cut-offs to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority, Hamas has also hinted it would accept temporary statehood in the West Bank and Gaza.

Haniyeh played down the prospect of a showdown with Abbas.

"We do not seek to cause a constitutional crisis," he said.

Abbas said in an interview published on Friday that he had proposed back-channel talks with Israel that would effectively circumvent Hamas.

Israel poured cold water on the idea.

"He (Abbas) has failed in the biggest challenge which faced him from the very outset: to combat terror. As a result of the failure of his government, Hamas has risen," said interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the election frontrunner.

Olmert has threatened to set the Jewish state's permanent borders by 2010 if peacemaking remains frozen. While Israel quit Gaza last year, Palestinians suspect it will cement a permanent hold on major Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank.

The newly named minister of tourism in the Palestinian government, Tannous Abu Eita, said he would not be joining the cabinet, which is dominated by Hamas loyalists.

"I apologise, I won't be in the cabinet ... This is because I have a lot of businesses to run," Abu Eita told Reuters in Bethlehem, where he has interests in hotels.

- REUTERS