DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - ISRAEL/HOLY LAND: A WAKE UP CALL FOR ISRAEL

Hamas takeover is ‘wake-up’ call for Israel
By Heba Saleh in Cairo and Andrew England in Jerusalem

Egypt and Jordan curged Israel on Sunday to view the takeover of Gaza by Hamas as a wake-up call underlining the need for a peace process between the Jewish state and the Palestinians.

The two Arab countries will press at a summit in Egypt on Monday for the resumption of peace talks to strengthen the position of Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president , whose authority has been undermined by the Islamist group’s action.

The meeting, hosted by Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s president, will bring together Ehud Olmert, Israel’s prime minister, Mr Abbas and King Abdullah of Jordan.

Arab governments have been alarmed by the Hamas seizure of power in Gaza. They regard the fragmentation of the Palestinian territory into areas controlled by the rival factions of Hamas and Fatah as calamitous for any prospects for peace with Israel and for the security of the Middle East.

Mr Mubarak has condemned the Hamas takeover as a “coup against legitimacy” and Ahmed Aboul Gheit, his foreign minister, said that Iranian influence in the neighbouring territory was a threat to Egyptian security.

An Egyptian official said: “Israel should not judge this solely by looking at the strength or weakness of Abbas. They should look at long-term stability. Do they want . . . peace or not? They should not sow the seeds of another intifada.”

On the eve of the meeting, Mr Aboul Gheit asked Israel to stop settlement activity, end the construction of the separation wall, remove the checkpoints that limit the movements of Palestinians in the West Bank and end raids on Palestinian villages.

In a gesture of support for Mr Abbas, the Israel cabinet agreed to unfreeze hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues and to hand them over to the emergency government established by the Palestinian president.

But how the money will be released and when will depend on talks between Palestinian and Israeli officials, said Mr Olmert’s office. There would also be mechanisms to ensure Hamas did not get any of the revenue.

Mr Olmert said: “We will attempt . . . to take advantage of the opportunities created as a result of the recent events in the Gaza Strip . . .  to build a diplomatic process with the Palestinians.

“We shall present there our expectations from the opposite side, our demands on the issues of security and the war against terror, but definitely also our readiness to co-operate with the new government.”

Egypt, which shares a border with Gaza, has reasons for seeking to counter the move by Hamas which go beyond the impact on prospects for peace. Cairo is wary of the Islamist faction, an offshoot of its own opposition Muslim Brotherhood.

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