Abbas vows to use 'iron fist' against militants

The Palestinian leader warned the "iron fist" would be used against armed militants, who violate a de facto truce.

Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas warned he would use an "iron fist" against armed militants, who violate a de facto truce, the official Palestinian media reported on Thursday.

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Abbas, accused by Israel of not doing enough to crack down on militant groups, also vowed to ensure that Israel's planned withdrawal from the occupied Gaza Strip and parts of the northern West Bank went ahead smoothly.

"We must have calm on the ground. We will stop, resorting to force if necessary, those who seeking to sabotage it by launching a rocket or opening fire," he said, according to the official WAFA news agency.

"Anything, which violates this national consensus must be hit by an iron fist," he said, using a term to describe an informal truce observed by armed Palestinian groups since late January.

Abbas, who succeeded the late Yasser Arafat as head of the Palestinian Authority in January, said Israel should be allowed to leave occupied Arab territory in an atmosphere of calm.

"The Israelis are going to leave and we are not sorry. They have occupied us for 38 years and now they want to withdraw... we will facilitate their departure by every means possible," Abbas was quoted as saying during a visit to the police headquarters in Gaza City on Wednesday.

"We must allow them to leave calmly because we do not want them," he said, adding: "We must protect the precious property that they will leave behind and which, for the most part, has been built on state land."

Israel plans to withdraw all soldiers and the 8,000 Jewish settlers living in the Gaza Strip in July or August, accompanied by the dismantling of four isolated settlements in the northern West Bank.

Since his election in January, Abbas has worked tirelessly to calm the situation on the ground. In late January, he managed to persuade militant groups to observe a de facto truce and call a halt to their campaign of anti-Israeli attacks.

The move has seen a rare period of calm descend on the occupied territories, with thousands of Palestinian security forces deployed throughout the Gaza Strip to prevent the firing of rockets and mortars at Israeli targets.

His efforts were cemented at a landmark peace summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in February, at which Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared an end to four-and-a-half years of hostilities.

In mid-March, most of the major Palestinian factions agreed to extend the period of calm until the yearend at top-level talks with Abbas in Cairo.

But over the last few weeks, the calm has begun to unravel, with militants firing an increasing number of missiles at Israeli targets in Gaza, and Israeli troops mounting increasing raids into Palestinian areas -- both of which violate terms of the Sharm el-Sheikh agreements.

Although some Israeli officials have tried to paint him as "Arafat mark two", Abbas has consistently called for an end to the armed intifada and repeatedly pledged there will be "only one gun, the gun of the Palestinian security forces".

But Israel continues to insist there will be no return to political negotiations with the framework of the Mideast peace roadmap without Abbas moving to completely disarm and disband militant factions.

Abbas made the restoration of law and order in the West Bank and Gaza a key plank of his election platform in January, and has since made a series of moves to slim-down the security services and imbue them with new strength.