Palestinian Militant Groups Call for End to Rivalries

Rival Palestinian militant groups put up a united front Saturday to denounce inter-factional kidnappings and violence that have undermined calls by President Mahmoud Abbas for law and order in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

“We announce that all of the military wings are united in their position and destiny and that we consider any attack on any one of us as an attack on us all,” said the statement from eight groups, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade.

“Any action aimed at spreading chaos or internal strife ... will be considered treason,” said the statement, issued at a news conference in Gaza that was attended by gunmen, some of them masked. “Our response will be unified and swift.”

In the latest in a string of kidnappings widely believed to stem from factional rivalries, a Hamas member was abducted by unidentified gunmen in the West Bank on Friday but was released within hours. Several other Hamas men were snatched last week and freed unharmed.

Three people were killed in Gaza on Oct. 2 in firefights between Hamas gunmen and Palestinian police, and 50 people were wounded when militants later tried to storm a police station.

Abbas has called on militant groups, which have spearheaded anti-Israeli violence over the last five years, to end what he describes as armed chaos and stop carrying their weapons in public.

Commenting on the militants’ announcement, Abbas condemned the appearance of armed, masked men at the news conference.

“Such images are rejected completely, and we will deal with them by imposing order through the Palestinian security forces in a way that does not harm Palestinian citizens,” Abbas said.

Israel has complained that Abbas has not done enough and must disarm the factions and dismantle “terrorist infrastructure.”

Abbas, who declared a truce along with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in February, has coaxed militants into announcing a “period of calm” until the end of the year. He wants to co-opt gunmen rather than confront them, warning of a risk of civil war.

Abbas and Sharon are expected to meet this week ahead of the Palestinian leader’s talks with President Bush in Washington on Oct. 20.

The consultations come amid heightened hopes for peacemaking following Israel’s completion of a pullout from the Gaza Strip on Sept. 12.