No Crackdown On Resistance

     AP     2003/07/22

Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas said Tuesday that he will not crackdown on Palestinian resistance groups, despite being urged by America and Israel to do so.

After meeting in Cairo with Arab League Secretary-General Amro Moussa, Abbas was asked by reporters if he will dismantle armed groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, steps Israel is demanding before withdrawing its forces from more Palestinian towns.

"Cracking down on Hamas, Jihad and the Palestinian organizations is not an option at all," Abbas said before leaving Egypt to Jordan for talks with King Abdullah II. "We are applying the law which we accepted under the leadership of the Palestinian Authority, and that is what we will do."

The Palestinian Authority says a crackdown could trigger civil war, while resistance groups warn such a move could nullify a shaky three-month truce in attacks on Israelis.

Disarming the resistance is a condition of the U.S.-backed Roadmap to Middle East peace, which envisions an end to violence and creating an independent Palestinian state by 2005.

Under the Roadmap, Israel withdrew from parts of Gaza and the West Bank town of Bethlehem, but refuses to hand over more land unless the Palestinians disarm Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Abbas has preferred to negotiate in a bid to end attacks.

In an apparent move to satisfy Israel, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Sunday issued a decree outlawing "incitement that encourages the use of violence that harms relations with foreign countries."