MIDDLE EAST:The Quartet of Middle East peace mediators pledged full support to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas yesterday and expressed concern about the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon and EU officials held an emergency teleconference after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip.
"There was a clear message of support to President Abbas, especially in this difficult time of forming an emergency government," a spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said after the hour-long talks.
"There was great concern about the humanitarian situation in Gaza and a commitment to use all means to ensure humanitarian efforts can be realised," she said.
The Quartet planned to discuss the crisis again early next week.
Russia called for calm and urged mediators to help avert civil war. Egypt pulled its diplomats out of Gaza in protest at the Hamas takeover and Iran said the violence showed Palestinians had lost sight of their true enemy.
A US official hinted the Quartet could lift the embargo on direct aid to the Palestinian Authority imposed after Hamas's election victory last year.
The Quartet statement underlined the international will to bolster Mr Abbas in his battle for power with Hamas, considered a terrorist group by the US, EU and Israel.
US state department spokesman Sean McCormack described Mr Abbas's choice for prime minister, Salam Fayyad, as enjoying "a sterling reputation".
He said Washington and its diplomatic partners were working on ways to help Mr Abbas. "We don't want to see the Palestinian people suffer as a result of the choices of a few people who decided to launch these attacks," Mr McCormack said.
Russian president Vladimir Putin spoke to Israeli president Shimon Peres about the situation, which the Kremlin said caused serious concern. "The bloodshed is continuing and it is important to help Palestinians to reunite. Civil war in Palestine is in no one's interest," Mr Lavrov said.
In London, a senior foreign office official said Britain was open to the idea of an international force in Gaza, which Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert suggested should monitor the Gaza-Egypt border to help counter the growing strength of Hamas.
Iran, a key ally of Hamas, also signalled its displeasure. "Unfortunately, Palestinian fighters have forgotten their main enemy and are fighting each other instead of the Zionist regime [ Israel]," said former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.