Gaza War

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070517/...s_palestinians

CAIRO, Egypt - Arab governments appear at a loss how to stop the stunning wave of Palestinian factional fighting, which threatens to wreck the region's already faltering efforts to resume the Arab-Israeli peace process.

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Arabs watched television footage of the Gaza fighting in despair. "May God curse you all," Egyptian columnist Ahmed Ragab wrote, referring to the Palestinian factions.

The chaos is a heavy blow to U.S. Arab allies who have tried for months to mediate an end to the disputes between the militant Hamas movement and the mainstream

Fatah faction led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Regional power Saudi Arabia has stayed silent about the clashes in Gaza since they began five days ago, a sign of its anger at the two sides and its reluctance to get involved.

The kingdom put its political clout on the line in February when it hosted a summit between Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal aimed at ending a previous bout of factional fighting. The summit in the holy city of Mecca ended with a deal on a Palestinian unity government that Saudi Arabia touted as a major breakthrough and is now in danger of collapse.

"It is hard to see Saudis or anyone else expending political capital and sticking their neck out for the Palestinians while gunmen controlled by Hamas and Fatah turn Gaza into a homegrown killing field," Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper said in an editorial.

The Gulf Cooperation Council, of which Saudi Arabia is a member, issued a statement urging the two factions "to adhere to the Mecca agreement, which laid down a solid base to overcome the current bottleneck in the Palestinian arena."

Some said the fighting showed the power-sharing deal only papered over the disputes between Hamas and Fatah. "The Mecca agreement didn't get into the deep-rooted divisions between Hamas and Fatah," said Saudi writer Khalid al-Dakhil.

Those who signed onto the deal at Mecca knew it faced opposition from extremists on both sides, said Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor-in-chief of the London-based newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi.

Hamas' military wing was not happy with a freeze in attacks on

Israel, while Fatah hard-liners wanted "to topple the agreement because they don't want a partner or the national unity government," he said.

Other Arab leaders have been able to do little else but call for an end to the fighting. President

Hosni Mubarak, who mediated between Abbas and Mashaal during a meeting in Cairo last month, spoke by phone with Abbas on Thursday, telling him, "Palestinian blood is sacred."

Jordan's King Abdullah II also spoke to Abbas, urging him to show more resolve to end the fighting and to press Hamas to stop rocket attacks on Israel that threaten to widen the conflict.

"The violence must stop for the sake of the Palestinian people, and for the sake of Palestine," the king was quoted as saying in a royal palace statement.

Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — all key U.S. allies — have been trying to persuade the United States and Israel to accept an Arab peace initiative as a starting ground for relaunching peace negotiations. The deal offers full peace with all Arab nations if Israel withdraws from territories captured in the 1967 Middle East War and a Palestinian state is created.

With the Arab countries already struggling to bring Israel on board, the new fighting threatens to make the offer all but irrelevant.

Arab TV stations showed constant images resembling a war zone in Gaza, with masked gunmen in the abandoned streets and people rushing the wounded away on stretchers. Al-Jazeera broadcast live from its offices in Gaza, where journalists in flak jackets and helmets were trapped as gunfire raged outside.

Viewers in the Arab world — long loyal advocates of the Palestinian cause — were stunned and said the turmoil only benefits Israel.

Some blamed the Palestinian factions for a futile fight over power. Zeinab Mohammed, a 21-year-old Egyptian student, said the factions were "serving no one but their own personal interests."

"America, Israel and the whole West want to see us divided," said 47-year-old Kamal Abu-Zeid, wearing thick eyeglasses, and selling newspapers in front of Cairo University.

Sateh Nourredine, managing editor of Lebanon's As-Safir daily, said Gaza "is out of control."

"No one knows where it will lead. They've tried mediation by Egypt, the Arab League and the Mecca agreement. They've had direct talks and a national unity government. Then the situation explodes in this catastrophic way," he told The Associated Press. "There is no political logic to what's happening."