Abbas Threatens to Sack Hamas-led Government

The increasingly violent power struggle in the Occupied Territories edged closer to civil war yesterday as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced he would call fresh presidential and legislative elections and insisted he had the right to fire the Hamas-led government.

After days of fighting between Abbas's Fatah faction and Hamas in Gaza and in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Abbas's aides said a date for new elections could be set within a week and the vote take place within three and six months.

The latest escalation came ahead of the arrival of Tony Blair in Israel today as part of a tour of Turkey and the Middle East which the Prime Minister hopes can help breathe fresh life into a moribund peace process. Yesterday Blair visited Cairo for talks with President Hosni Mubarak. His arrival in Egypt drew no red carpet, no high-ranking reception committee, and a three-strong honour guard.

Whether he will have a warmer reception from Israelis and Palestinians is moot, given that both sides are distracted by looming political crises and there is little sense of a renewed US engagement in the peace process.

Blair's visit is certain to be overshadowed by the latest developments in the Occupied Territories, where the stand-off between Hamas and Fatah appeared to be coming to a head. Yesterday, as Hamas decried Abbas's move as an 'illegal coup attempt' that risked plunging Palestinians into violence, Abbas vowed that there would be 'no civil war in Palestine'.

Blair hailed Abbas's intervention as 'a very important speech at a critical time', adding: 'What it shows is the desire of the Palestinian President to improve the lot of his people, who are suffering in a terrible way. He has worked hard to try to bring about a unity government in which everyone, including Hamas, is represented, but it is also signalling his determination to move on without them if they are unwilling or unable to play a constructive part.'

Palestinian electoral law gives the President responsibility for key powers relating to elections, including the declaration of the date for general elections. Calling new elections is risky for Abbas, who has said he would not seek another term in office. It counts on the fact that 10 months of chaos and increasing poverty will have left Palestinians sufficiently disillusioned with Hamas to return Fatah to power.

If Abbas does not run again, the moderate camp in Palestinian politics would not have a strong candidate and could easily lose the presidential vote. At the same time Fatah remains in disarray, and might lose to Hamas again in parliamentary elections.

Since Hamas won legislative elections in the spring, Abbas has been encouraged by foreign diplomats - led by the US - to strengthen the power of the presidency to counter Hamas. The US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, recently said she would ask Congress for tens of millions of dollars to strengthen Abbas's security forces.

Abbas's call for new elections follows an 11-month power struggle between the two groups following Hamas's victory in legislative elections earlier this year, which marked an end of the unchallenged dominance of Fatah.

'This is a constitutional right. I can do it whenever I want,' said Abbas in a speech broadcast live on Palestine TV. 'The dismissal of the government is not as [Hamas Foreign Minister] Mahmoud Zahar said, a recipe for civil war. They do not scare us.'

Responding to Abbas's broadcast, the Hamas-dominated government issued a statement rejecting his call for early elections, calling it 'a coup against Palestinian legitimacy and the will of the Palestinian people.'

The latest moves follow days of clashes between Fatah and Hamas, with Abbas saying Hamas had refused to meet international demands to recognise Israel and renounce violence, which had led to crippling Western sanctions and an internal political deadlock.

In the latest bout of violence, Fatah and Hamas gunmen clashed in Gaza following Abbas's announcement, injuring 18 in exchanges of fire.

Responding to Abbas's announcement, a senior Israeli defence source said: 'This is a very important internal decision by the Palestinians, which creates a new opportunity to relinquish the path of terror and return to the negotiating table.'