Mahmoud Abbas was sworn in as Palestinian Authority president yesterday and started his job with two crises: Israel cut contacts with him until he reins in militants and two top election officials resigned amid allegations of irregularities in the vote that brought Abbas to power.
In the Gaza Strip, six Palestinians were killed by Israeli army fire in two separate incidents yesterday, two days after Palestinian militants killed six Israeli civilians at a Gaza cargo crossing. The renewed violence dampened expectations -- that had been fanned by the election victory of the moderate Abbas -- that the two sides could break out of their deadlock after more than four years of fighting.
PHOTO: EPA
In his inaugural speech in Ramallah, Abbas said he extends his hand in peace to Israel, called for a cease-fire and said he was committed to the US-backed "road map" peace plan.
However, he made no direct mention of how he would deal with the militants -- the most pressing item on his agenda. Abbas only said he would enforce the rule of law and "deepen the dialogue" with various Palestinian factions, an apparent reference to his attempt to negotiate with militants.
Abbas did not refer to Israel's decision to suspend contacts until he takes action against the armed groups. Israel announced the boycott Friday, in response to the attack on the Gaza crossing, with one Israeli official saying the gunmen had apparently set out from a Palestinian Authority base.
Israeli officials welcomed Abbas' call to end violence, but said he must now translate that into action.
Abbas struck a largely conciliatory tone yesterday, saying Israelis and Palestinians are "destined to live side by side and to share this land." He condemned all violence, including the Gaza attack.
He called on Israel to halt military operations, including targeted killings of wanted Palestinians.
"We are seeking a mutual cease-fire to end this cycle of violence," he said.
He said the Palestinians are ready to meet their obligations spelled out in the road map, and that Israel must do the same, including halting Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank and Gaza.
However, the road map also calls on the Palestinians to disarm militants, a step Abbas is unwilling to take. He has said he would try to persuade, but not coerce, the armed groups to halt attacks. After the Gaza crossing attack, Israel warned that Abbas is quickly running out of time.
In new violence yesterday, six Palestinians were killed by Israeli army fire.
Near the Gaza-Egypt border, an Israeli tank fired shells and machine guns, killing two Palestinians and wounding 10. Among the injured were four children under the age of 16, two of them in critical condition, hospital officials said. The circumstances of the shooting were not immediately clear.
In Gaza City, Israeli troops moved into a neighborhood to stop what the army said was Palestinian rocket fire on the nearby Jewish settlement of Netzarim. Four Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire, witnesses said. The army said troops shot at militants who fired anti-tank rockets.
Militant groups sent mixed messages in reaction to Abbas' speech, saying they reserve the right to continue attacks, but also that they believe they can reach a deal with the new Palestinian leader. Members of militant groups have suggested that a truce is possible if Israel guarantees it will halt military operations.
"Regarding the issue of resistance, it will continue until the Israeli attacks come to an end and its army gets off our land," said a spokesman for the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent group with ties to Abbas' Fatah movement. The spokesman only gave his name as Abu Mohammed.
Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat said Abbas offered an olive branch to the Israelis.
"I hope they will have listened carefully and they will reconsider their position and come back to the negotiating table," Erekat told reporters in Ramallah.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mark Regev, praised Abbas' call to end violence.
"But of course Israel waits for that statement to be implemented as policy," Regev said. "We understand that he can't do everything on day one, but we hope he will start."
Abbas, meanwhile, suffered another blow when two top election officials resigned yesterday, over allegations of voting irregularities in the Jan. 9 presidential vote that brought Abbas to power.
The officials, Ammar Dwaik and Baha al-Bakri, said they had been pressured by Abbas' campaign on election day to abruptly change voting procedures.
CLASH OF WORDS: While China’s foreign minister insisted the US play a constructive role with China, Rubio stressed Washington’s commitment to its allies in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday affirmed and welcomed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio statements expressing the US’ “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan” and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, in a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart. The ministry in a news release yesterday also said that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated many fallacies about Taiwan in the call. “We solemnly emphasize again that our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and it has been an objective fact for a long time, as well as
‘CHARM OFFENSIVE’: Beijing has been sending senior Chinese officials to Okinawa as part of efforts to influence public opinion against the US, the ‘Telegraph’ reported Beijing is believed to be sowing divisions in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture to better facilitate an invasion of Taiwan, British newspaper the Telegraph reported on Saturday. Less than 750km from Taiwan, Okinawa hosts nearly 30,000 US troops who would likely “play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan,” it wrote. To prevent US intervention in an invasion, China is carrying out a “silent invasion” of Okinawa by stoking the flames of discontent among locals toward the US presence in the prefecture, it said. Beijing is also allegedly funding separatists in the region, including Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: Taiwan must capitalize on the shock waves DeepSeek has sent through US markets to show it is a tech partner of Washington, a researcher said China’s reported breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI) would prompt the US to seek a stronger alliance with Taiwan and Japan to secure its technological superiority, a Taiwanese researcher said yesterday. The launch of low-cost AI model DeepSeek (深度求索) on Monday sent US tech stocks tumbling, with chipmaker Nvidia Corp losing 16 percent of its value and the NASDAQ falling 612.46 points, or 3.07 percent, to close at 19,341.84 points. On the same day, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Sector index dropped 488.7 points, or 9.15 percent, to close at 4,853.24 points. The launch of the Chinese chatbot proves that a competitor can
‘VERY SHALLOW’: The center of Saturday’s quake in Tainan’s Dongshan District hit at a depth of 7.7km, while yesterday’s in Nansai was at a depth of 8.1km, the CWA said Two magnitude 5.7 earthquakes that struck on Saturday night and yesterday morning were aftershocks triggered by a magnitude 6.4 quake on Tuesday last week, a seismologist said, adding that the epicenters of the aftershocks are moving westward. Saturday and yesterday’s earthquakes occurred as people were preparing for the Lunar New Year holiday this week. As of 10am yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) recorded 110 aftershocks from last week’s main earthquake, including six magnitude 5 to 6 quakes and 32 magnitude 4 to 5 tremors. Seventy-one of the earthquakes were smaller than magnitude 4. Thirty-one of the aftershocks were felt nationwide, while 79
RSS