UNITED NATIONS; Major powers urged the Palestinian Authority on Tuesday to start dismantling armed militias, saying that engaging in violence was incompatible with participating in elections.

But the Quartet of international peace mediators stopped short of backing Israeli demands that the militant group Hamas be barred from standing in legislative elections next January unless it disarms and recognises the Jewish state. Ministers of the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations said in a joint statement after meeting at UN headquarters that following Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, the Palestinians needed to maintain law and order and "dismantle terrorist capabilities and infrastructure."

"Ultimately, those who want to be part of the political process should not engage in armed group or militia activities, for there is a fundamental contradiction between such activities and the building of a democratic state," they said. However, asked about Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s threat to obstruct the conduct of Palestinian elections if Hamas is allowed to run, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said: "We understand this is a transition and we think everybody else understands this is a transitional process.

"We have to give the Palestinians some room for the evolution of their political process." The Quartet praised Sharon’s political courage in carrying through the Gaza withdrawal but said Israeli settlement activity in the occupied West Bank must stop. It also expressed concern about the route of Israel’s West Bank security barrier.

Meanwhile, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is having trouble imposing order in unruly Gaza, and he is cut off from his people by a wall of bodyguards. His government faces a no-confidence vote in parliament, and his main rival, Hamas, is parading its private army in the streets in bold defiance of his call to disarm.

Abbas faces several immediate dilemmas. He is under growing pressure to open the Gaza-Egypt border and secure freedom of movement for cooped up Gazans. But that could jeopardise future peace talks and Gaza’s economic future if it’s done without the consent of Israel, which could retaliate by clamping down at other border crossings.

The international community wants him to crack down on militants, but that would interfere with his plan to bring Hamas into the fold and thus defuse its threat to his political survival. Israel has further complicated the equation with a threat to impede the parliament election if Hamas participates.

Abbas’ most obvious problem is his isolation from his people. Since the last Israeli soldier drove out of the Gaza Strip over a week ago, Abbas has shied away from public celebrations, including one last week on the ruins of the largest Jewish settlement, Neve Dekalim. He sent an aide instead. Hamas, the largest Islamic militant group, dispatched its top leader, Mahmoud Zahar.

On the morning Israel left, thousands of Palestinians, desperate for freedom after decades of harsh Israeli occupation, overwhelmed Palestinian and Egyptian security forces and crossed the border into Egypt. Along with people, guns and drugs made it back into Gaza. It took several days before Abbas’ security forces could bring the border under control. Abbas’ defenders say it’s unrealistic to expect the Palestinian Authority to end Gaza’s chaos overnight.