CAIRO — Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said a bid for United Nations observer status is the first step toward achieving his people’s rights and has wide support among General Assembly members.
Meanwhile, a leading Islamic cleric in the Gaza Strip has ruled it a sin to violate the recent cease-fire between Israel and the Hamas militant group that governs the Palestinian territory - conferring a religious legitimacy to the truce and giving the Gaza government strong backing to enforce it.
“We are going to the United Nations with confidence, supported by all peace lovers,” Abbas said in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Sunday. “Be assured, there are many countries” supporting the bid, he said.
Abbas, who controls only the West Bank, is pressing ahead with the initiative after Egypt brokered a cease-fire to end eight days of fighting between Israel and Hamas.
The fatwa, or religious edict, ruling it a sin to violate the cease-fire was issued late Saturday by Suleiman al-Daya, a cleric respected by both ultraconservative Salafis and Hamas. Salafi groups oppose political accommodations with Israel.
“Honoring the truce, which was sponsored by our Egyptian brethren, is the duty of each and every one of us. Violating it shall constitute a sin,” the fatwa read.
The truce, which was struck Wednesday, remains fragile, however, and details beyond the initial cease-fire have not yet been worked out. The fighting killed 169 Palestinians, including dozens of civilians, and six Israelis.
The spokesman for Gaza’s Hamas government, Taher Nunu, told reporters Sunday that Hamas is committed to the truce.
“The government reaffirmed its blessing to the agreement sponsored by Cairo and emphasized that it will work to the internal Palestinian consensus and the supreme national interest,” he said after a government meeting.
Hamas, which in 2007 fought Abbas’ Fatah for control of Gaza a year after winning parliamentary elections, also gave the Palestinian Authority its backing for the U.N. bid on Thursday. Abbas said he hoped a successful vote would be followed by a reconciliation between the factions. The U.S., European Union and Israel consider Hamas a terrorist organization.
“The president believes that this move can be seen as the last chance to achieve peace and stability in the area,” Saeb Erekat, chief Palestinian negotiator, said by phone. “We don’t want this viewed as a frightening move. It isn’t about threats.”
The Palestinian Authority circulated its resolution to put the Palestine Liberation Organization on a par with the Holy See on Nov. 8, according to a draft. That will be put to a vote in the 193-member General Assembly, where the initiative has sufficient support to pass and where the U.S. lacks veto power.
The U.S. doesn’t support the move, saying that Palestinians should achieve statehood only through direct peace talks with Israel. A year ago, the Palestinians abandoned an attempt to be recognized as a full member state through the 15-member Security Council, after President Barack Obama indicated the U.S. would use its veto.
Israeli Foreign Minister spokesman Yigal Palmor said that the right way to address the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians was to first start talking, then agree and, finally, seek U.N. recognition.
“The Palestinians are trying to turn the whole thing upside down and it will make the possibility of returning to negotiations much more difficult,” Palmor said by phone.
Direct talks between Palestinians and Israel collapsed in September 2010 when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to extend a 10-month building freeze in the West Bank and Abbas said he wouldn’t negotiate unless all construction halted.
“Pray for God to make us successful and pray so that others will vote with us,” Abbas said Sunday. “Pray that those who oppose us would stand by us and vote for the truth.”
Erekat said that the U.N. bid will also strengthen the chances for a Fatah reconciliation with Hamas. “This will make the Palestinians stronger,” Erekat said.
Also Sunday, Israel successfully tested its newest missile defense system, the military said, a step toward making the third leg of what Israel calls its “multilayer missile defense” operational.
The “David’s Sling” system is designed to stop mid-range missiles. It successfully passed its test, shooting down its first missile in a drill Sunday in southern Israel, the military said.
The system is designed to intercept projectiles with ranges of up to 180 miles.
Israel has also deployed Arrow systems for longer-range threats from Iran. The Iron Dome protects against short range rockets fired by militants in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. Iron Dome shot down hundreds of rockets from Gaza in this month’s round of fighting.
The military said the program, which is on schedule for deployment in 2014, would “provide an additional layer of defense against ballistic missiles.”
Meanwhile, the leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah organization said Sunday the group would fire thousands of rockets into Israel in any future war and target cities in the country’s heartland.
Sheik Hassan Nasrallah’s warning came days after the eight-day Israeli offensive against Gaza ended. Nasrallah said Gaza militants had won “a clear victory” against Israel with their rocket bombardment.
Hezbollah, like Hamas and other Gaza militant factions, maintains a rocket arsenal and regularly threatens to use it. It fought an inconclusive 34-day war with the Jewish state in 2006 that left 1,200 Lebanese and 160 Israelis dead.
The Gaza war marked the first use by Palestinian factions of a longer ranged Iranian-made rocket, the Fajr-5. It caused no casualties but did trigger air raid warnings in the heartland cities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, which, unlike cities closer to the Lebanese and Gaza borders, have not experienced any sustained missile attack since Iraqi Scuds were fired in the 1991 Gulf War.
Nasrallah said in a speech in Beirut that the Fajr-5 attacks “shook Israel.” He asked: “How is it [Israel] going to stand thousands of rockets that will fall on Tel Aviv and other areas if it launches an aggression against Lebanon?”
Hezbollah fired at least one long-range rocket ineffectually in the 2006 war. But Israeli intelligence now believes the militant group has the capability to strike anywhere in the country, although Israel now deploys air defense systems designed to counter the threat.
Nasrallah did not say how many missiles and rockets his group possesses, although in the past he said they have more than 20,000. Israel estimates the number at several times that.
In other developments, Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency says a Palestinian man has been charged with relaying information to Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon about sensitive government sites, including parliament.
It identified the suspect as Azzam Mashahara, a resident of east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in 1967.
Palestinian residents of east Jerusalem, unlike Palestinians from the West Bank or Gaza Strip, have Israeli identity cards that allow them to travel freely within Israel.
The agency said the indictment was handed down Sunday, a day after Mashahara was arrested.
All of the sites identified in the Shin Bet agency statement appear on Google Earth. Mashahara was charged with maintaining contacts with a foreign agent and relaying information to the enemy.
Information for this article was contributed by Mariam Fam, Fadwa Hodali and Gwen Ackerman of Bloomberg News; and by Irbahim Barzak and Bassem Mroue of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 11/26/2012