HAMAS PLANNED TO ASSASSINATE ABBAS

'Hamas planned to assassinate Abbas' (JPost)
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas canceled a planned visit to the Gaza Strip on Thursday for fear that Hamas militiamen might attack his convoy, PA officials here said. ....

"The Palestinian security forces have received information according to which Hamas was preparing some kind of an attack on President Abbas's convoy," the officials said. "The president has been advised not to travel to the Gaza Strip because of the warnings."

Abbas had been scheduled to meet in Gaza with Hamas leaders on ways of ending the fighting between the two movements.

Earlier this year, PA security officials claimed that they had discovered a booby-trapped underground tunnel near the Erez checkpoint. According to the officials, the tunnel had been dug by Hamas members who were planning to detonate the explosives against Abbas's convoy.

Abbas spends most of his time in Ramallah, visiting the Gaza Strip once or twice a month. His home and headquarters in Gaza City have been frequently attacked with missiles and rockets by Hamas militiamen.

Arab world in despair over Gaza fighting (JPost)
Arab governments appeared at a loss Thursday over how to stop the stunning wave of bloodshed in Gaza, which threatens to wreck their already faltering efforts to resume the Arab-Israeli peace process. The fighting sparked despair among Arabs watching television footage of what looked like open warfare between Palestinians. "May God curse you all," renowned Egyptian columnist Ahmed Ragab wrote, referring to the Palestinian factions.

The chaos is a heavy blow to US Arab allies, who have tried for months to mediate an end to the disputes between the religious Hamas movement and the more secular Fatah faction led by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

Regional powerhouse 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 fighting between them. The summit in Mecca ended with a deal on a Palestinian unity government that Saudi Arabia touted as a major breakthrough - and that now is threatened with 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.

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