JERUSALEM (AP) – Mahmoud Abbas has tried to pull off a delicate balancing act in his campaign for Sunday’s Palestinian elections, embracing militants who have been battling Israel for more than four years while expressing support for a stalled peace plan that requires him to crack down on them.

Abbas says he is confident he can persuade the militants to agree to a cease-fire, but a deadly shooting attack on Israelis on Friday by a group affiliated with his own party cast doubt on his ability to pull that off.

Dealing with the militants, who have been responsible for scores of suicide bombings and shootings of Israelis, will be one of the first obstacles Abbas faces after the presidential election, which polls indicate he will win in a landslide.

The existence of independent armed groups – who sometimes battle among themselves – will also threaten Abbas’ ability to govern effectively, and he will need to co-opt, marginalize or eliminate them, analysts said.

During his campaign to succeed the late Yasser Arafat, Abbas has sent a host of mixed messages as he tried to secure an overwhelming victory that will give him a strong mandate to make difficult decisions after the election.

The 69-year-old Abbas, a staid, uncomfortable campaigner, lacks Arafat’s street credibility and has turned to the militants for help in courting the votes of younger Palestinians.

He has been carried on militants’ shoulders at rallies, held the banner of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades – a violent group affiliated with his Fatah party – and referred to Israel as “the Zionist enemy,” a term normally used by groups such as the Islamic militant Hamas. He has promised to do everything in his power to protect the militants from Israeli attack.

“Our brothers, the fugitives, we do not forget them. They deserve a life with dignity and security and they have to get it,” Abbas said during a campaign stop Friday.

But he has also said he wants to revive the internationally backed “road map” peace plan, which demands the Palestinians disarm and dismantle all militant groups.

“With God’s help, we will have quiet. I am not talking about a cease-fire for a short time, but for quiet that lasts a long time, to give the peace process a chance,” Abbas said in an interview with the Israeli Yediot Ahronot newspaper published Friday.

At a news conference Friday, Abbas added that he planned to crack down on illegal weapons, which militants carry openly in some Palestinians towns.

“When I see you in the street carrying a handgun or a machine gun, I want to ask if this machine gun is legitimate, is it licensed? If it is not, you will be punished according to the law,” he said.

Israel has long demanded a Palestinian crackdown on militants, arguing that a cease-fire will only give them a respite from Israeli attacks that will allow them to regroup.

Israel appeared to soften its position slightly Friday, when a senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it would accept any policy that would end attacks. The official added, however, that Israel did not believe a cease-fire would be successful.

Confidence in Abbas’ ability to deliver on a cease-fire has been damaged in recent days.

On Thursday, he met in the West Bank city of Nablus with militants from Al Aqsa, a group with disparate cells and no unified leadership structure, who said they supported his cease-fire efforts.

Ala Sanakra, an Al Aqsa leader from the Balata refugee camp outside Nablus, said the group had halted attacks in the West Bank weeks ago as a goodwill gesture to Abbas and would continue to refrain from attacks after the election.

“We will commit to a cease-fire if we see movement on the ground. (Israel) stopping assassinations, stopping arrests, leaving our cities,” he said Thursday.

But on Friday, Al Aqsa militants shot up a car filled with Israelis outside Nablus, killing one soldier and wounding three, according to Israeli military sources.

Afterward, another senior Al Aqsa official said there were no plans to end attacks and the group would not give Abbas even a brief cease-fire for peace talks. Al Aqsa will only refrain from attacks after Israel withdraws from the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, the official said.

Hamas, the largest militant group, also said it planned to continue attacks.

Palestinian analyst Hani al Masri said a violent crackdown on the militants could trigger a civil war. However, if Israel withdraws from Palestinian cities, stops targeting militants and the two sides revive the peace process, Abbas might have sufficient public support to disarm the militants peacefully, he said.

“But if Israel doesn’t give him much, then he will appear very weak and have no justification to disarm any gunman,” he said.

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