Gaza violence could spread -Palestinian minister

TOKYO, June 13 (Reuters) Palestinian Foreign Minister Ziad Abu Amr warned today that factional violence in Gaza could spread to the West Bank if nothing is done, urging the international community to provide financial aid.

Tuesday was the bloodiest day of Gaza fighting in months, with least 27 people killed and 70 wounded in the coastal enclave yesterday as the forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas battled supporters of Ismail Haniyeh, the Islamist prime minister.

Leaders of Abbas's secular Fatah group threatened to quit a three-month-old unity government with the Islamist Hamas group if there was no immediate truce, and the European Union said there was an imminent risk of civil war.

Abu Amr, in Tokyo for discussions on aid and regional issues with Japanese leaders, told a seminar that the fighting was the natural result of what he termed international negligence, and that things would get worse without financial help.

''The idea now is to see how we can salvage the situation,'' he said, warning that fighting could expand to the West Bank unless the economic situation especially in Gaza, which suffers from 70 percent unemployment, is dealt with promptly.

''If you have two brothers put into a cage and deprive them of basic essential needs for life, they will fight,'' he said.

''I don't think we should put the blame on the victim.'' The Quartet of Middle East peace brokers -- the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union -- suspended direct aid to the Palestinian Authority last year after the Hamas group formed a government, but the formation of the unity government has prompted calls to resume aid.

Abu Amr, an independent, said that the world should recognise that the situation in the Palestinian territories has changed since the unity government came into office, and should resume constructive engagement.

''I hope we'll find a way to solve the problem in a responsible way, but I also call on the international community to take part,'' he said, praising Japan for its support.

Tokyo has long felt it has a special role to play in the Middle East because it lacks much of the political baggage of the United States, allowing for warmer ties with Arab nations.

With Japan dependent on the region for nearly all of its crude oil, Tokyo has decided to boost its political involvement in the area as competition for resources heats up because of surging economic growth in China and India.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso met with Abu Amr on Tuesday and said Japan would maintain its support for Abbas and was considering providing direct aid to his office.

Japan is the No. 2 aid donor to the Palestinian territories on a country basis after the United States and has disbursed roughly 0 million through various routes from 1993 to the end of March last year. It stopped direct aid late in 2005.

REUTERS PJ DS1156