Palestinians Trying to Keep Al Qaeda Out, Abbas Says

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that Palestinian security officials were working to prevent infiltration by Al Qaeda into the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

But he appeared to back off from earlier published remarks in which he said there were indications that the terrorist network had already established a foothold in the Palestinian territories. Several Palestinian security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said no hard evidence of such a presence had been uncovered.

Abbas’ remarks came against a backdrop of mounting Israeli pressure on him to distance himself from Hamas, the militant group that won Palestinian parliamentary elections in January and is in the process of forming a government.

The Palestinian leader has irritated some Israeli officials with his wait-and-see stance toward Hamas, whose charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state. Abbas has said he believes the group will moderate its views on Israel.

Raising the alarm about Al Qaeda could be a means of drawing attention away from Abbas’ rift with Israel over how to deal with Hamas.

In an interview published Thursday in the London-based pan-Arab newspaper Al Hayat, Abbas was quoted as saying, “We have indications about a presence of Al Qaeda” in Gaza and the West Bank.

“This is a very serious matter,” he told the newspaper.

But speaking to reporters later Thursday, Abbas said only that Palestinian security forces were worried about the prospect of such infiltration and were seeking to stave it off.

“We have unconfirmed reports that Al Qaeda, which sent members to Jordan and Saudi Arabia, may also send its members to us for purposes of sabotage,” Abbas said at a news conference with Amir Peretz, the leader of Israel’s left-leaning Labor Party.

“Our forces are trying with all available means to prevent them from arriving to carry out terrorist attacks in this region,” Abbas said.

Israeli officials have long spoken publicly about the threat of Al Qaeda establishing itself in the Palestinian territories in preparation for a strike against Israel.

The Israeli government previously expressed suspicions that Al Qaeda militants had entered Gaza during a period of chaos on the Egyptian border after Israel’s hand-over of the seaside territory to the Palestinians six months ago.

Palestinian officials at the time denied such infiltration had taken place.

Abbas said no Al Qaeda operatives had been captured. However, Israel Radio on Thursday cited a senior Palestinian intelligence official as saying that authorities had recently arrested an Islamic activist in Gaza who spread what were described as “ideas affiliated with” the terrorist group.

In public statements, Al Qaeda leaders have paid homage to the Palestinian cause and expressed hatred of Israel. Hamas, while sharing that sentiment, has traditionally sought to prevent outside militant groups from operating in the Palestinian territories, believing that attacks in the service of global jihad would detract from its more tightly focused struggle with Israel.

Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, asked by reporters whether Al Qaeda was operating in the Palestinian territories, replied that “there are of course attempts by terrorists, including international terrorists, to spread their wings to areas near us.”

“I can promise that Israeli intelligence is monitoring all attempts of terrorist figures to infiltrate our region,” he said.

Olmert also told a news conference that he had no intention of meeting with Ismail Haniya, the Palestinian prime minister-designate. Haniya, considered part of Hamas’ pragmatist wing, was the group’s top candidate in the parliamentary elections.

Israel has been trying to isolate Hamas diplomatically and has reacted angrily to foreign governments’ invitations to the group. The latest of those was confirmed Thursday by South African officials.

Hamas officials are to hold talks today in Russia, though the delegation will not meet with President Vladimir V. Putin.

Israel also is seeking to stem the flow of foreign aid to the Palestinian Authority, though it says it will not hamper humanitarian donations.

However, figures such as James Wolfensohn, senior envoy for the Mideast peace-negotiating quartet consisting of the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia, have warned that the Palestinian Authority could face financial collapse without emergency assistance -- a situation he and others have said could lead to chaos.

The United States, like Israel, considers Hamas a terrorist organization, and U.S. law forbids direct donations to it. But American officials believe aid should be used to strengthen Abbas, who will remain in charge of diplomacy and negotiations even once a Hamas government is in place.

Palestinians on Thursday complained bitterly about the continued closure of the main commercial crossing in and out of Gaza, and Israel’s withholding of tax revenue that would normally be used to pay salaries. Palestinian officials said paychecks for tens of thousands of civil servants that would normally have been issued at the start of the month would be at least two weeks late.

Abbas’ meeting with Peretz, held at the Allenby Bridge crossing into Jordan, was part of a campaign by the Labor Party leader to meet with moderate Arab leaders and build up his credentials as a statesman.

Labor is a distant second in the polls to Kadima, the centrist party established by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon before he was incapacitated by a stroke in January. The party now is led by Olmert.