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Quartet: Disarm Palestinian fighters
International peace brokers have urged the Palestinian Authority to start dismantling armed resistance factions before a parliamentary election in January. But the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations stopped short of backing Israeli demands the group Hamas be barred from the poll unless it disarms and amends a charter calling for Israel's destruction.  Ministers of the so-called Quartet said in a statement after talks at UN headquarters that the Palestinians should maintain law and order following Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, a pullout completed on 12 September after 38 years of occupation. The Quartet, borrowing terminology from a Middle East peace "road map" it has sponsored, also urged the Palestinian Authority to "dismantle terrorist capabilities and infrastructure". Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said forcibly disarming powerful resistance groups would lead to civil war and that he prefers to co-opt them into the security services and mainstream politics. At a news conference on behalf of the group, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said: "Ultimately, those who want to be part of the political process should not engage in armed group or militia activities, for there is a fundamental contradiction between such activities and the building of a democratic state." Posted by: Fred 2005-09-21 |
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