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JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Several top Fatah officials have asked President Mahmoud Abbas to resign, dissolve the Palestinian Authority and return responsibility for the occupied territories to Israel in protest at unilateral Israeli moves.
Senior Fatah officials said on Friday the idea of scrapping the Authority was debated for the first time on Thursday night by the Fatah Central Committee, which controls Abbas's faction.
The discussion highlighted frustrations within Fatah, beaten by Hamas in January elections, following Israel's seizure of a radical Palestinian leader in a West Bank prison raid this week.
A senior Fatah official said Abbas's top aide, Tayeb Abdel-Rahim, had sparked the debate in the Central Commmittee, winning support from several members. Others were opposed.
"Abdel-Rahim said at the meeting Abbas must consider resigning and dissolving the Palestinian Authority if Israel continues with its attacks and unilateral measures," said the official, who asked not to be named.
"Why should we accept blow after blow to President Abbas whom the world claims to support?" the official quoted Abdel-Rahim as saying.
Abbas, who resigned once when he was prime minister and has threatened to quit since becoming president, told the Central Committee he would consider the proposal, the official said.
The Islamist group Hamas, which is about to form a government that Fatah and other factions have refused to join, said it opposed dissolving the Palestinian Authority.
"This is not the right national position to take," said Hamas lawmaker Khaled Suleiman.
Aid groups and an international envoy have warned of the risk of chaos and violence if the Palestinian Authority collapsed amid moves to isolate a Hamas-led government.
DESPAIRING PROTEST
The senior Fatah officials said winding up the authority would be a protest at what they saw as efforts by Israel and the United States to sideline Abbas as a negotiating partner.
They said it would be timely because unilateral Israeli policies had already emasculated the Authority and dimmed hopes of achieving a viable, contiguous Palestinian state.
Many Palestinians saw Tuesday's prison raid in the West Bank city of Jericho as a deliberate attempt to humiliate Abbas and the Authority. Interim Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has vowed to impose final borders if Hamas does not change course.
By withholding Palestinian tax revenues to deny funds to a Hamas-led government, Israel has also reduced the Authority to seeking international funds to pay public sector salaries.
Israel has accused Abbas of not fulfilling Palestinian obligations to disarm militant factions under a U.S.-brokered "road map" for peace. Israel's own road map commitments to freeze settlement building also remain a dead letter.
Fatah's ruling committee has never previously considered dismantling the Palestinian Authority created by the Palestine Liberation Organization under peace deals with Israel in 1994.
The original concept was to give 3.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza a say over their affairs until statehood.
Dissolving a body that Fatah had dominated until the January election would require the PLO formally to hand responsibility for the territories back to Israel. The PLO could then urge U.N. action to end Israel's occupation, advocates of the plan say.
Critics said the idea was a sign of Fatah's desperation.
"It would take us back to square zero and distance us from achieving our goal of freedom and statehood," said Fatah official Hussein al-Sheikh.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri asked why Fatah members had not proposed scrapping the Palestinian Authority earlier when its writ was undermined by Israeli offensives in the West Bank.
"These events were more grave than what happened in Jericho," he said.
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Several top Fatah officials have asked President Mahmoud Abbas to resign, dissolve the Palestinian Authority and return responsibility for the occupied territories to Israel in protest at unilateral Israeli moves.
Senior Fatah officials said on Friday the idea of scrapping the Authority was debated for the first time on Thursday night by the Fatah Central Committee, which controls Abbas's faction.
The discussion highlighted frustrations within Fatah, beaten by Hamas in January elections, following Israel's seizure of a radical Palestinian leader in a West Bank prison raid this week.
A senior Fatah official said Abbas's top aide, Tayeb Abdel-Rahim, had sparked the debate in the Central Commmittee, winning support from several members. Others were opposed.
"Abdel-Rahim said at the meeting Abbas must consider resigning and dissolving the Palestinian Authority if Israel continues with its attacks and unilateral measures," said the official, who asked not to be named.
"Why should we accept blow after blow to President Abbas whom the world claims to support?" the official quoted Abdel-Rahim as saying.
Abbas, who resigned once when he was prime minister and has threatened to quit since becoming president, told the Central Committee he would consider the proposal, the official said.
The Islamist group Hamas, which is about to form a government that Fatah and other factions have refused to join, said it opposed dissolving the Palestinian Authority.
"This is not the right national position to take," said Hamas lawmaker Khaled Suleiman.
Aid groups and an international envoy have warned of the risk of chaos and violence if the Palestinian Authority collapsed amid moves to isolate a Hamas-led government.
DESPAIRING PROTEST
The senior Fatah officials said winding up the authority would be a protest at what they saw as efforts by Israel and the United States to sideline Abbas as a negotiating partner.
They said it would be timely because unilateral Israeli policies had already emasculated the Authority and dimmed hopes of achieving a viable, contiguous Palestinian state.
Many Palestinians saw Tuesday's prison raid in the West Bank city of Jericho as a deliberate attempt to humiliate Abbas and the Authority. Interim Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has vowed to impose final borders if Hamas does not change course.
By withholding Palestinian tax revenues to deny funds to a Hamas-led government, Israel has also reduced the Authority to seeking international funds to pay public sector salaries.
Israel has accused Abbas of not fulfilling Palestinian obligations to disarm militant factions under a U.S.-brokered "road map" for peace. Israel's own road map commitments to freeze settlement building also remain a dead letter.
Fatah's ruling committee has never previously considered dismantling the Palestinian Authority created by the Palestine Liberation Organization under peace deals with Israel in 1994.
The original concept was to give 3.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza a say over their affairs until statehood.
Dissolving a body that Fatah had dominated until the January election would require the PLO formally to hand responsibility for the territories back to Israel. The PLO could then urge U.N. action to end Israel's occupation, advocates of the plan say.
Critics said the idea was a sign of Fatah's desperation.
"It would take us back to square zero and distance us from achieving our goal of freedom and statehood," said Fatah official Hussein al-Sheikh.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri asked why Fatah members had not proposed scrapping the Palestinian Authority earlier when its writ was undermined by Israeli offensives in the West Bank.
"These events were more grave than what happened in Jericho," he said.