Abbas sworn in as president, Israel kills eight in Gaza

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Mahmoud Abbas has been sworn in as Palestinian president, but his call for a ceasefire was overshadowed as Israel killed eight Palestinians in Gaza and cut ties with him over a deadly militant attack.

"Our hand is extended towards an Israeli partner for making peace," Abbas said at his inauguration in the battered West Bank compound where his predecessor Yasser Arafat is buried.

"We are seeking a mutual ceasefire to end this vicious circle," said Abbas, restating his support for a US-backed peace "road map" that calls initially for militants to be reined in while Israel eases its occupation.

Abbas faces a tough challenge from militants demanding an end to Israeli occupation and a halt to attacks by the Jewish state before any truce. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has halted contact with Abbas until he reins in gunmen and stops attacks on the Jewish state.

Israeli soldiers killed six Palestinians, including three militants, in the central Gaza Strip. Troops also shot dead two other Palestinians in the Rafah area of south Gaza.

An Israeli helicopter later fired a missile into north Gaza, hitting a house and causing damage. The army said it targeted a nearby workshop that it said gunmen had used to make munitions. The foundry's owner, who also lived in the house, denied this.

The Israeli army said it had been targeting militants in response to increased attacks against Israelis.

Militants fired mortar bombs and rockets on Gaza settlements and Israeli towns, injuring a boy and a woman. On Thursday, gunmen -- some linked to Abbas' Fatah group -- killed six Israelis at a Gaza border post in the deadliest attack in a month.

Abbas did not say in his speech how he planned to deal with militants. Sharon is wary of Abbas' policy of co-opting gunmen rather than cracking down on them.

"The real question is what kind of message did Abbas' words have for the various terrorist organisations. Clearly, they were insufficient," said a Sharon adviser, Dore Gold.

"We don't see anything programmatic in what Abbas is saying. Israel will be very pleased in the future to get into other understandings with the Palestinians but right now they're the ones who have to halt the assault on us," Gold said.

Abbas wants an end to a more than 4-year-old Palestinian uprising for statehood so peace talks with Israel can resume.

His election last Sunday had kindled new hopes for peace. Sharon had shunned Arafat, who died on November 11, accusing him of fomenting violence, an allegation he always denied.

"Peace can only be achieved by working together to reach a permanent status solution," Abbas said in his speech.

Fatah officials have been talking to leaders from various militant groups in an effort to secure one final list of demands from all of them for a mutual truce with Israel.

"It is not appropriate to talk about a truce under continued Israeli assaults," said Islamic Jihad leader Sheikh Nafez Azzam, who met Fatah officials. "All efforts should now focus on ... demanding that Israel stop its aggression."

Abbas and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie told security chiefs they had to "impose the rule of law and order" among Palestinians, Qurie's office said in a statement, without specifying the demands of the leaders.

While halting violence is one challenge for Abbas, Palestinians and Western countries also demand internal reforms to end corruption and mismanagement that had paralysed the Palestinian Authority in Arafat's last years.

Although international monitors pronounced last Sunday's election fair, five senior officials resigned from the Palestinian election commission on Saturday, saying they were coerced into extending voting by Abbas' supporters.

The resignations could dent Abbas' claim to a popular mandate for peacemaking.

- REUTERS