RAMALLAH, 20 February 2005 — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said he opposes any use of force to disarm Palestinian groups. “We don’t want conflict with the armed organizations, but agreement,” he said in an interview with the German weekly Der Spiegel to appear in tomorrow’s edition. The president said fighters from Hamas, Fatah and Islamic Jihad must be integrated into the Palestinian security forces. “After that, there will be no illegal arms, because the fighters must first hand them over,” he told Der Spiegel. Abbas also pledged that the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza would be free of violence. “People will throw flowers at the Israelis, and not stones,” he said. Hamas and Islamic Jihad agreed on Feb. 12 to maintain an informal truce following talks with Abbas. The Palestinian leader had been seeking their agreement on a mutual cease-fire with Israel which he announced at a breakthrough summit with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Egypt earlier this month. The Israeli Cabinet is slated to vote today on Sharon’s plan to evacuate all settlements. Cabinet ministers are due to vote on the evacuation of over 8,000 Jewish settlers living in 21 settlements in Gaza and another four isolated enclaves in the northern West Bank. Today’s vote comes just four days after the Knesset adopted a law which will grant compensation payouts to the evacuees. Commentators predicted that Sharon would see his plan pushed through without any major hurdles, thanks to the backing of MPs from the center-left Labor Party, which joined his ruling coalition last month. Eighteen ministers are likely to back the withdrawal, including Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, while five are expected to oppose it, including Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, public radio said yesterday. Despite intense efforts to scupper the controversial plan at every stage, the settler lobby and other extreme rightwing elements, along with some 15 hard-line MPs from Sharon’s Likud party, are likely to face yet another defeat. — With input from agencies |
