West Bank alert for al-Qaida terror groups

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said al-Qaida is trying to establish a presence in the West Bank and Gaza, and he has ordered his security forces to prevent it.

Abbas was speaking yesterday after meeting Amir Peretz, head of the moderate Israeli Labour Party, less than a month before Israel’s general election.

“We have information, yet to be confirmed, that al-Qaida, just as it sends its operatives to Jordan and other countries like Saudi Arabia … also might send us operatives for sabotage (acts),” Abbas said.

“We must be alert, and all our security forces are trying with all means to prevent their arrival here, or their carrying out any sabotage acts in this region,” Abbas said, backtracking from a report in the London-based Al Hayat newspaper quoting him as saying al-Qaida already had a presence in the Palestinian areas.

Israel considers the Islamic terror threat as a main security challenge, but the equation has changed since Hamas swept to victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections in January. Hamas is putting together a new Palestinian Cabinet.

In a CNN interview broadcast early today, incoming Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh did not deny that the long-range Hamas goal is to take over Israel after the West Bank and Gaza. “You can’t divide rights,” he said, according to the CNN translation. “It has to be a process.”

He repeated his offer of a long-term cease-fire if Israel withdraws from all of the West Bank and frees Palestinian prisoners, adding that if Israel makes an offer, “we will study it.”

Haniyeh said his first priorities would be improving living conditions and restoring order.

Israel has been trying to isolate the militant Islamic group to counter the effect of its imminent rise to power in the neighbouring Palestinian territories. Israel’s efforts absorbed a blow when Russia invited Hamas leaders for talks, due to begin today.

And yesterday, South Africa issued Hamas an invitation.

Israel criticised the South African invitation.

“We would be concerned that giving legitimacy to an unreformed Hamas could stifle the possibility that the movement will transform itself from a terrorist organisation to a political party,” Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said.

In Washington, the State Department’s deputy spokesman, Adam Ereli, supported the Israeli view. “The US is not going to meet with a terror group,” he said. Other countries are free to make their own decisions, he said, but they should make clear to Hamas that its actions are unacceptable.

The Abbas-Peretz meeting took place at the Allenby Bridge, the crossing between the West Bank and Jordan. Abbas is on a tour of Arab countries and came to the bridge from the Jordanian side to see Peretz.

Labour has been lagging far behind the centrist Kadima Party of acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in opinion polls.

Perceived as strong on economic issues, but inexperienced in diplomacy, Peretz has met in recent weeks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Moroccan King Mohammed VI, using photo opportunities and news conferences to try to improve his image as a statesman.

Peretz said yesterday that it is important to strengthen ties with Abbas in order to weaken extremists.

“I call from here on all the moderates, in the international community as well, to continue to build the moderate front that can serve as a channel to assist … the Palestinian nation so that both people will know there is hope for peace,” he said, standing next to Abbas, with Israeli and Palestinian flags behind them.

By contrast, the Olmert government has distanced itself from Abbas since Hamas’ January election victory. Last month, Abbas asked Hamas to form the next government, in line with Palestinian electoral law, but he retains considerable powers as Palestinian Authority president.

Peretz said that Israel would not cooperate with a Hamas government that does not recognise Israel.

Peretz appealed to Abbas to rein in militant groups, and Abbas replied, “we are against all forms of violence. Violence harms the two peoples. We want calm and truce, and final status negotiations, because we and the Israelis are tired of wars".