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Russia Slams Deadly Israeli Raids
Palestinians at a sensitive time when their stated intention of ending internal strife should be encouraged.
Israeli forces entered Ramallah on Thursday in the first major army raid since the Zionist regime`s prime minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed two weeks ago to try to ease tensions. Four Palestinians were killed and 20 were wounded in the fighting.
The Russian Foreign Ministry noted that Abbas and Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas met early Friday and agreed to work to defuse spiraling factional violence.
"Against this background the actions of Israel that objectively heat up tension in the Palestinian territories, including the military operation in ... Ramallah, cannot fail to cause concern,`` the ministry said in a statement.
Russia is a member of the so-called Quartet of Mideast mediators along with the United States, the United Nations and the European Union.
Haniyeh said the early Friday meeting was aimed at ending the deadly confrontations between the two groups.
"We have decided to appeal for calm and for the withdrawal of all the armed men from the streets, and to continue the dialogue," Haniyeh told journalists after his meeting with Abbas at the president`s office.
Haniyeh said the two leaders also agreed on "an immediate halt to partisan campaigns through the media, and a return to dialogue alone to resolve political differences and to negotiations aimed at forming a government of national unity".
The prime minister added that he had decided to set up a commission of inquiry headed by a judge to look into the recent inter-Palestinian clashes.
On Thursday evening, Haniyeh launched a new appeal for unity.
"I call on all armed men to withdraw from the streets, the blood of Palestinians is a very serious matter," he told journalists, adding "we want national unity and dialogue to resolve our differences".
On December 19, Fatah and Hamas had agreed to a ceasefire after four days of internecine clashes killed 15 people and wounded dozens more in Gaza.
The conflict erupted after Abbas called for early parliamentary and presidential elections which Hamas rejected.