MIDDLE EAST: The Palestinian Prime Minister, Mr Mahmoud Abbas, declared yesterday that he had no intention of moving against militant groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, despite American and Israeli pressure to do so.
"Cracking down on Hamas, Jihad and the Palestinian organisations is not an option at all," he said after a meeting in Cairo with the Arab League Secretary-General, Mr Amr Moussa.
There is nothing new in Mr Abbas's comments. He has consistently maintained that a confrontation between the Palestinian Authority and armed groups could spark civil war and that he prefers dialogue, even though the road map peace plan requires that he disarm militant groups.
What is significant is the timing of his remarks, just days before he is to hold talks with President Bush in Washington on Friday, in what is being viewed as a critical meeting both for the Middle East peace process and for the embattled Palestinian premier.
Mr Abbas, who met King Abdullah II of Jordan in Amman yesterday, is under growing pressure from a Palestinian public increasingly disenchanted with what they view as his inability to extract concrete concessions from Israel. He has demanded the release of a "significant" number of the 6,500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, but so far Israel has intimated it will release only 350.
He has also been unable to convince the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, to continue the withdrawal of troops from West Bank towns, or to fulfil the road map requirement of dismantling dozens of illegal West Bank settlement outposts. Since the Aqaba summit last month, Mr Sharon has ordered the dismantling of 15 outposts, while more or less the same number have been established in the same period.
In an attempt to strengthen Mr Abbas, and against the backdrop of the dramatic drop in violence since militant groups declared a truce on June 29th, Israeli officials have said the government is considering increasing the number of prisoners to be freed to some 450.
In Cairo, Mr Abbas said he would use his meeting with the American leader "to convince [the US] of our viewpoint in order to pressure Israel".
A leading Palestinian legislator, Mr Saeb Erekat, said the road map would be in danger of unravelling if the Palestinian prime minister emerges from his meeting with Mr Bush emptyhanded. "It is essential that he comes back with a comprehensive plan, with a clear timetable, for implementing the road map."
Mr Sharon, who will be in Washington for talks with Mr Bush on July 29th, is expected to ask the Americans not to settle for the temporary ceasefire declared by militants, but to press Mr Abbas to disarm them.
Israeli troops, meanwhile, yesterday shot dead an Israeli Arab driving in the village of Taibeh in the north of the country when he failed to heed their orders to stop.