Arab League calls for Palestinian unity

The Arab League called Friday "on all parties to stop the fighting on Palestinian lands" and return the government to its status before Hamas forces claimed full control of Gaza.The future of the Palestinian government was uncertain, as rival factions Hamas and Fatah staked claims to different areas after days of bloody fighting.Hamas was in control of Gaza, while Fatah, the faction of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, largely held the West Bank.The Arab League said it will set up a committee to investigate the situation in Gaza and issue a report within a month.
The Egyptian delegation in Gaza shut its offices and departed Friday because of security concerns, sources in Gaza said.In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States "fully" supports Abbas "in trying to end this crisis for the Palestinian people and give them an opportunity for a return to peace and a better future."State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the United States, Israel and the international community want to help Abbas economically, politically and diplomatically and want to support Palestinian moderates.Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's spokeswoman, Miri Eisin, said the "firing of Hamas from the government and the establishment of a government without Hamas open new possibilities of cooperation, both financial and security, with a moderate government."Abbas appointed Salam Fayyad as prime minister of an emergency government, an Abbas adviser said.
Fayyad, well-regarded in the international banking world, was finance minister in the short-lived unity government.With control over Gaza consolidated, Hamas troops in Gaza City threw large framed photos of late President Yasser Arafat and Abbas to the ground outside the presidential compound.Reuters reported that one of the fighters picked up the phone in Abbas' former office and jokingly said, "Hello, Condoleezza Rice. You have to deal with me now, there is no Abu Mazen anymore." Abu Mazen is another name for Abbas.
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http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/06/15/gaza.fighting/index.html
As in the days of Noah...