Editorial: Palestinian leader faces weighty task

Opinion

Mahmoud Abbas' claiming of the Palestinian presidency instals another of the building blocks for progress in the Middle East. The legitimate election of a moderate leader to replace Yasser Arafat puts pressure on Israel and the United States to more actively seek a resurrection of the "road map" for peace. No longer can their loathing of Mr Arafat allow them to remain detached. Duly, Ariel Sharon and George W. Bush have welcomed Mr Abbas' election. But both must supply more than words if the promise inherent in his victory is not to prove short-lived.

The breadth of the task facing Mr Abbas was evident even as his win was being celebrated by war-weary Palestinians. Militant groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which had boycotted the election and reject negotiations with Israel, ignored his calls for a truce by firing rockets at Jewish settlers in the Gaza Strip. Mr Abbas' first task, in the eyes of Israel and, indeed, the United States and the United Nations, is to stop such attacks. His favoured method, understandably, is to achieve the co-operation of the militants rather than to disarm them forcibly.

A destabilising civil war would be in no one's interests. Mr Abbas secured 62.3 per cent of the vote in an election that international observers concluded was generally satisfactory. His mandate is clear. Mr Sharon must recognise that, and concede that the likes of Hamas no longer represent mainstream Palestinian thinking. Their activities must be placed in that context, and Israel should temper its response. Israel, and the White House, must also provide Mr Abbas with leverage that gives the militants no option but to back his approach. So far, there has been insufficient recognition of this. Mr Sharon appears ready to turn over most occupied territory to Palestinian policing - meaning a halt to Army raids and the removal of checkpoints - but only if Mr Abbas demonstrates "a 100 per cent effort" to subdue the militants. Only, in other words, if he is prepared to crush them militarily.

That approach is short-sighted, just as Israel's proposed gesture on security co-ordination is short on substance. Only more significant signals, even if unpalatable to the Israelis, will make the militants irrelevant. Mr Abbas has mentioned 7000 or so security prisoners held by the Israelis. Not all can be terrorists who can never be freed because they have "blood on their hands". The US can help by pressing for the release of at least some of them. It can also bolster confidence in Mr Abbas by pressuring Israel to stop the expansion of settlements on the West Bank.

A freeze on such building is, with a halt to the Palestinian uprising, among the preconditions for the road-map plan. The momentum to rekindle that process must not be lost. No one is under any illusions about the difficulty of the task. Mr Abbas has vowed that Palestinian statehood must encompass all of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, as well as a "right of return" for millions of Palestinian refugees to lands now inside Israel. Much of that has been ruled out by Israel, which says it will not cede East Jerusalem or take back refugees. Contrary to another of the road map's preconditions, it has also won American backing to hold on to major West Bank settlements.

Mr Sharon is, however, pressing ahead with a withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and has cobbled together a coalition to achieve that. This is a welcome dose of realism, as is the inclusion of the dovish Labour leader, Shimon Peres, in the new Government. Mr Abbas is a pragmatist. He knows the creation of an independent Palestinian state side by side with Israel will be an exercise in compromise.

Mr Peres has been quick to see the opportunity offered by the election and will do his best to give Mr Abbas a chance. Much of the responsibility for how big that chance will be lies with Israel and the US. Palestinians have shown a commitment to democracy, reconciliation and the peaceful pursuit of statehood. That must be fully recognised, and acted upon.