As the violence in the Gaza Strip escalates, with Hamas tightening its grip on the territory, President Mahmoud Abbas has called on the United Nations for help.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday that Abbas had asked him to consider UN involvement during a telephone call on Tuesday. "This is an idea for which we need to explore the possibilities," Ban said, after raising the matter with the 15 members of the Security Council on Wednesday.

"I think there are many issues which we will have to consider," Ban said. "And if we decide to have an international presence in Gaza, where to locate them, what would be the terms of reference, what would their missions be."

The Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said for the first time on Tuesday that an international force along the Gaza-Egypt border should be seriously considered to help counter the growing strength of Hamas. Israel in the past has resisted Palestinian calls for peacekeepers in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, saying any UN deployment would interfere with Israeli security operations. But there is speculation that Olmert's calls for international engagement is merely laying the groundwork for Israeli action against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, from which Israeli troops withdrew in 2005.

The European Union has also said it would consider participation in an international force in the Gaza Strip. "If we are asked, of course we will consider the possibility," EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana told reporters.

However Hamas has rejected the idea of an international force out of hand. "The movement would regard these forces as occupation forces, no different to the Israeli occupation, regardless of their nationality," Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said.

Hamas Poised to Take Over Gaza

There were tentative signs of a ceasefire Wednesday. President Abbas and the Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, issued a joint statement late on Wednesday night, calling on all sides to "halt fighting, and to return to language of dialogue and respect of agreements." But Hamas radio denied the two had agreed a truce and its fighters on the ground seem in no mood to halt their successful military campaign just yet.

In fact, the radicals are increasing their hold on Gaza. An Abbas aide is reported to have told diplomats "Gaza is lost," raising the prospect of a division between a Hamas-controlled Gaza and a Fatah-controlled West Bank. The two sides have been engaged in a bloody power struggle ever since Hamas won parliamentary elections in January 2006, ending 40 years of Fatah rule. The two parties formed a unity government in March, but the coalition began to fall apart last month due to the unresolved dispute over the control of the security forces.

Establishing Abbas' security control over Gaza has been a lynchpin of recent US efforts to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Washington has long held that negotiations can go nowhere if Israel cannot be assured that Abbas can curb cross-border attacks. A Hamas takeover in Gaza would create the prospect of an aggressive Islamist mini-state on Israel's border, beyond the moderating influence of Abbas.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said a Hamas victory in Gaza would cast doubt on Abbas' ability to deliver on any agreements over a Palestinian state. "If Hamas takes control of Gaza, this will be significant, not only for what happens in Gaza, but for the ability to reach agreements with (Abbas)" she said on Wednesday.

Some Israeli and Western officials see the Hamas assault on Fatah as a pre-emptive strike against US plans to bolster the forces loyal to Abbas for a planned crackdown on the militant groups. Washington had just launched a $60 million program to support Abbas' Presidential Guard with advanced training and equipment.

Abbas to Make an 'Important Decision'

Hamas has wrested control of nearly all the Gaza strip over five days of fighting that has left at least 70 people dead. The militants are now moving on to the battle for the Fatah security and political command centers in Gaza City. Witnesses told the Associated Press on Thursday that Hamas had taken control of the key Preventive Security headquarters, and were dragging men from the building and executing them on the street.

Although Fatah is numerically superior, Hamas has proved better armed and better disciplined. On Wednesday, 40 Fatah security officers broke through the border to flee to Egypt. Hamas now either controls or is on the verge of controlling the other main towns in Gaza, namely Khan Younis, Rafah and Deir el Balah.

Fatah has said that President Abbas is to make an "important decision" later Thursday regarding the future of the coalition government. There is now speculation that he will dismantle the government and declare a state of emergency, so that he could rule by decree.

Spiegel.de