Abbas Should Visit Places That Promote Peace, Israel Says
By Julie Stahl
CNSNews.com Jerusalem Bureau Chief
February 02, 2005

Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas should meet with leaders who want to promote peace -- not with those who want to scuttle it, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's spokesman said on Wednesday.

Abbas has accepted an invitation to make an official visit to Iran, reports said on Wednesday.

Iran openly calls for the destruction of the State of Israel; and it refused to have relations with the Palestinian Authority since it was created in the early 1990s as a partner to negotiate a final settlement with Israel.

Abbas, who was elected on January 9 to replace Yasser Arafat as PA chairman, has been taking steps to mend relations with Israel following more than four years of violent armed conflict.

Israel was not enthusiastic about the idea of Abbas visiting Iran but said the choice is his.

"[Abbas is] the sovereign leader of the Palestinian Authority, the elected leader," said Sharon's spokesman Dr. Ra'anan Gissin.

Nevertheless, Gissin said, he would suggest that Abbas "meet with people who want to advance the peace process and not those who are working against it and trying to scuttle it."

Israel has accused Iran and the Iranian-backed Hizballah of becoming more involved in Palestinian terrorism against Israel.

Calling them the "evil axis," Israeli army Intelligence chief Maj.-Gen Aharon Ze'evi warned on Tuesday that Iran, Syria and Hizballah are likely to continue influencing the stability of the PA.

He also said that leaders of Hizballah and Hamas had met recently to discuss ways to thwart the PA ceasefire.

Abbas has been working with Hamas and other radical Islamic and nationalist groups to secure a ceasefire agreement. But he has pledged not to use force against the Palestinian organizations.