World reels as PM quits

AMMAN - The United States has vowed that Middle East peace efforts will go on, after Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas sent shockwaves across the world by submitting his resignation.

The European Union has expressed alarm at losing Abbas, and Israel says it will not deal with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

Abbas' decision, a result of a power struggle with Arafat, could deal a fatal blow to a US-backed peace roadmap.

The weekend's events were worsened by an Israeli attempt to assassinate Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon reportedly gave the final go-ahead for an F-16 fighter jet to drop a 250kg laser-guided bomb on a Gaza City apartment, where Israel said Yassin and other Hamas leaders had assembled on Saturday.

Yassin, 67, survived the attack with wounds to a hand and shoulder.

Speaking outside a mosque yesterday, he said Israel and Sharon would pay a high price.

Supporters waved Hamas flags, chanting: "We will sacrifice our blood for Yassin."

Others cried: "Bomb Tel Aviv."

Arab leaders joined the condemnation.



"[Yassin] is one of the revered figures in the occupied territories ... so you can expect a reaction that is commensurate with the level of respect that he has in the occupied territories," said Hesham Youssef, spokesman for Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa.

And Abbas said Israel was trying to take advantage of the Palestinian leadership crisis.

"Such criminal actions will only take us back to the vicious cycle of violence," he said.



Israeli police have been put on a state of alert amid fears of reprisal attacks by Hamas militants.

Reinforcements have been posted around Jerusalem and a blanket closure has been placed on the West Bank and Gaza.

Sharon was unrepentant after the botched assassination attempt.

Hamas leaders were "marked for death" and would not have a moment's rest, he said.

US officials, who backed Abbas as a moderate with whom they could do business in seeking a peace deal, declined to accept that the last word had been said on his resignation, as Arafat had not announced any decision on it.

"We are not certain that ... this is the end of it," said a US State Department official as Washington put pressure on Arafat.

Israel accuses Arafat of fomenting violence, a charge he denies.

"It is pretty clear to us in the United States that Arafat has not provided a pathway to peace in the past many ... years," US Homeland Security head Tom Ridge said in Cernobbio, northern Italy.

"I suspect [Abbas'] resignation will not deter [US President George W. Bush] and the international community in the efforts to get the parties back to the negotiating table."

Arafat is widely believed to be wary of being blamed for a collapse of peacemaking and of Israeli threats to expel him.

He has not yet accepted the resignation in writing, as required by law, but told Palestinian lawmakers that he considered Abbas' Cabinet a caretaker Government, implying recognition of the resignation.

Arafat was to meet leaders of his Fatah movement to discuss a possible replacement.

Parliament Speaker Ahmed Qureia is considered the front-runner.

Israel said it would not accept day-to-day control of the Palestinian Authority reverting to Arafat "or anyone doing his bidding".

"[Arafat] is part of the problem and not the solution. He is a direct cause that threatens stability in the area," said Israel's Foreign Ministry.

The European Union, which has joined Washington, the United Nations and Russia in supporting the roadmap, said it was alarmed by Abbas' resignation.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, whose Government holds the rotating presidency of the EU, said the bloc was "deeply worried by the serious risk of dangerous instability at the head of the Palestinian executive".

Some countries at a meeting of the 15-nation EU's foreign ministers in Riva del Garda, Italy, blamed the US and Israel for Abbas' exit.

Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh said Abbas had been given the kiss of death when the Bush Administration and Israel decided to deal only with him and not with Arafat.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder if Abbas did not stay in office, "it would be a negative factor for the peace process".

- AGENCIES