Sharon severs all contact with Abbas - reports

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has ordered all contact cut with newly elected Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas until Abbas reins in the militants, Israeli media reported tonight.

The reported moved comes a day after Palestinian militants killed six Israeli civilians in a bombing-and-shooting attack on a Gaza Strip crossing.

Sharon’s office had no comment on the report carried by three Israeli television stations.

Earlier Israel signalled it would delay retaliating for the Gaza crossing ambush and give Abbas a chance to rein in violent groups.

The shooting rampage at the Karni crossing, Gaza’s main lifeline, marked the Palestinian militants first major challenge to Abbas, who has spoken out against violence and has said he would try to negotiate a truce.

Three Palestinian gunmen were also killed in the attack, and three armed groups claimed responsibility, including Hamas and the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades with ties to Abbas’ ruling Fatah movement.

Israel and the United States have said they would judge Abbas by his actions.

However, Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni suggested today that Israel would give Abbas, widely known as Abu Mazen, more time to deal with the militants.

“In order to try to prevent the next attack, we have to try and strengthen Abu Mazen as a leader, based on the assumption that he can control the terror groups,” Livni said, adding that Israel would draw the line at endangering its security.

In response, Israel indefinitely closed the crossing, through which goods flow in and out of the fenced-in coastal strip.

A second Gaza crossing, for Palestinian travellers, was closed last month, after an attack there killed five Israeli soldiers.

The closures mean Gaza is now largely cut off, and the renewed hardships hit Palestinians just a week before a major Muslim holiday.

Many Palestinians, exhausted after more than four years of fighting, are complaining privately about the militants targeting crossings.

Abbas has said he will not use force against militants. Instead, he is expected to try to co-opt them by asking Al Aqsa gunmen, many of them former policemen, to return to their jobs, and by offering Hamas a say in decision-making.

Militants are divided on how to respond to Abbas.

Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, said the attack “was a message to the Israeli enemy, definitely not to Abu Mazen.” He said meetings with Abbas would resume soon “to organise the Palestinian house.”

The top Hamas official in the West Bank, Hassan Yousef, said the group is ready to suspend attacks as part of a deal with Abbas. Asked about Thursday’s attack, Yousef said Hamas had freedom of action as long as there is no agreement.

Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon are emerging as a major spoiler. Hezbollah is funding small groups within the militant factions, including some Al Aqsa gunmen in the West Bank city of Nablus.