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Arabs Fear Spread of Gaza Conflict

Arab countries are eyeing the chaos in Gaza with alarm, fearing that the Palestinian fighting could spread to the West Bank and further destabilize the region. The Arab League chief on Thursday called for a cease-fire, warning of disaster otherwise.

Arab governments have been stunned by a battle that is rapidly creating a dramatically new reality on their doorsteps: a Gaza Strip controlled by the militant group Hamas and a West Bank held by the Fatah faction of President Mahmoud Abbas.

Egypt sent police to beef up security on the border with Gaza. Authorities deployed armored vehicles and water cannons to prevent any potential mass flight of Palestinians out of Gaza, while searching for tunnels under the border through which infiltrators could pass.

There are fears that if the fighting spreads to the West Bank, it will further weaken Abbas and ultimately stir up trouble for Jordan, said a Jordanian government official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the situation's sensitivity.

Roughly half of Jordan's 5.5 million population is Palestinian. A Gaza-style civil war in the neighboring West Bank could spark clashes between the factions' supporters in the kingdom _ particularly in refugee camps where many support Hamas, the official said.

The fighting is a major blow _ if not a death knell _ to months of attempts by U.S. Arab allies Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to unify the Palestinians and allow a resumption of the peace process with Israel. The three regional powers have backed Abbas while trying to moderate Hamas, and Egypt and Jordan have helped train Abbas' security forces.

On Thursday, they were pushing a last-ditch attempt to mediate a resolution. An Egyptian delegation, sent to try to negotiate a cease-fire, was holed up in the presidential palace in Gaza City, where fighting was raging.

Arab foreign ministers planned emergency talks Friday in Cairo. Arab League chief Amr Moussa called for a cease-fire, warning that if the Palestinians do not support Egyptian mediation, "the outcome will be a disaster."

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit called for all sides to "cooperate with Egyptian mediation." But he also threw Cairo's support strongly behind Abbas, calling on all factions to "respect the Palestinian Authority ... and its President Mahmoud Abbas."

A senior figure in Hamas' exiled leadership in Syria, Moussa Abu Marzouk, insisted the fighting would not lead to a Gaza-West Bank split, saying the territories are "united and would remain so."

But fighting appeared headed in that direction, with Fatah in the West Bank arresting Hamas members there to assert control, even as Fatah positions fell in Gaza.

That would leave Arab moderates supporting a crippled Abbas, while facing a tough choice on how to deal with Gaza. They could try to engage with Hamas leaders in a bid to salvage some form of unity government _ but emboldened Hamas militants may be even less likely now to make concessions.

The alternative is a harder line, with Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia isolating Gaza and Hamas. But that could further push the impoverished coastal territory _ rife with weapons and with a densely packed population of 1.4 million _ into a source of instability and militancy that could bleed over into its neighbors.

"Gaza is steadily turning into a failed mini-state," wrote Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor-in-chief of the Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper. "And in failed states, small or large, extremism breeds and spreads."

Arab states fear a Hamas-run Gaza could become a power center for the group's allies Iran and Syria. On Wednesday, Jordanian Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit accused unnamed "regional forces" of fueling the fighting _ an apparent reference to Iran, which gives heavy financial support to Hamas.

Syria said Thursday it was following the events "with deep concern and pain" and called for Palestinian unity and "closing ranks to face the Israeli occupation."

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia remained silent, apparently angered by the collapse of its high-profile mediation attempts.

Saudi King Abdullah put his credibility on the line with a February summit in Mecca between Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, creating the unity government that has been destroyed by the fighting, with Abbas dissolving it Thursday.

"It's futile to bet on Palestinian unity," Saudi journalist Dawood al-Shirian told The Associated Press. "By fighting among themselves, the Palestinians are making Israeli aggression against them appear marginal."

Arabs Fear Spread of Gaza Conflict (http://asia.news.yahoo.com/070614/ap/d8pop46g0.html)