ME quartet backs US effort to revive talks
US to support 10,000 extra Abbas troops
Reuters, Washington
The quartet of Middle East peace brokers backed a US push to revive Israeli-Palestinian talks on Friday but voiced deep concern about violence among Palestinians that threatens to undermine the effort. The group, which includes the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States, disagreed over the US policy of isolating the Hamas-led Palestinian government and Syria, which Russia said was "counterproductive." The United States is making a fresh effort to promote peace at a time when Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government is weak and the power struggle between Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah has erupted into street clashes between their forces. Fighting between rival Palestinian factions escalated across Gaza on Friday, killing at least 17 people as Hamas overran compounds used by Abbas's forces and two major universities were set ablaze. "The quartet expressed its deep concern at the violence among Palestinians and called for respect for law and order," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, reading a statement on behalf of the quartet. At least 23 Palestinians have been killed and more than 200 wounded in the last 24 hours of internal fighting, making some analysts deeply sceptical of broader US-led peace efforts. "It needs to stop," Rice said of the violence but argued it should not delay work toward a broader peace deal that could someday lead to a Palestinian state. Rice plans to meet Olmert and Abbas soon to sketch out how they might work on peace. The group reaffirmed a year-old international aid embargo against the Hamas-led government unless it renounces violence, recognises Israel and respects past peace deals. The United States will expand assistance to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to include about 8,500 members of his national security forces and possibly 1,000 Fatah fighters based in Jordan, US documents show. Providing non-lethal equipment and training to units of Abbas's National Security Forces, and possibly the Jordan-based Badr Brigade could increase Washington's role in the power struggle between Abbas's Fatah faction and the governing Hamas movement. US assistance has largely been limited until now to around 4,000 members of Abbas's presidential guard.
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