GAZA, 23 June 2004 — The main Palestinian militant factions have united to oppose any security role Egypt might take in Gaza if Israel quits the territory, casting doubt over Egyptian efforts to mediate a smooth pullout.
A statement by the 10 factions late on Monday put them at odds with the Palestinian Authority, which is due to hold potentially decisive talks with a top envoy from Cairo today to discuss a possible Egyptian presence.
“We deplore and are astonished at talk of a security role by Arab parties in Gaza and the West Bank,” the militant groups said after a meeting of exiled leaders in Syria.
They said such a role would make it look “as if the Palestinian people were the problem, not the occupation”.
Egypt has offered to help train Palestinian security forces to fill a vacuum in Gaza once Israel removes Jewish settlements and troops from occupied land. The possibility that Jordan could send in security experts has also been raised.
Palestinian officials say Egypt will only send up to 200 security advisers if it has agreement from the militants and if a ceasefire is agreed with Israel.
Among factions behind Monday’s statement were Hamas, Islamic Jihad and a wing of Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement -- although the Palestinian president has welcomed Egyptian involvement and Fatah in Gaza said it had nothing to do with the document.
The position of the groups was certain to arouse Egyptian concern ahead of a mediation visit planned by intelligence chief Omar Suleiman to Israel and the West Bank this week.
As well as a ceasefire, Egypt has been seeking guarantees its trainers will be safeguarded in Gaza and demanding that Arafat allow the reform of Palestinian security forces.
Suleiman’s visit could decide the role that Egypt will play in Gaza, insiders said. Mahmoud Abbas, a former premier in close touch with the Egyptians, said they would walk away if they were not sure of Palestinian commitment.
“It could be the last visit,” Abbas told Reuters.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Cabinet has approved in principle his unilateral plan to uproot all 21 Gaza settlements and four of 120 in the West Bank. Ministers will vote in nine months on whether to begin the evacuation, which has Washington’s backing.
A poll published yesterday showed that most Palestinians do not believe Israel is serious about its plan to Quit Gaza .
More than 45 percent said Israel was “not serious at all” while another 25 percent of respondents also doubted it was genuine. Twenty-eight percent answered that the Jewish state was serious.
Fifty-five percent said the Palestinian leadership should reject the pullout from Gaza by the end of 2005 as proposed by Sharon. But 37 percent said it should be accepted, and eight did not express an opinion.
Meanwhile, two Palestinians, one of them an armed militant, were killed yesterday during an Israeli army incursion in Beit Hanun, in the northern Gaza Strip, medics told AFP.
The gunman was named as Khaled as-Shimbari, 21, a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group loosely linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah party.
The second casualty was Ibrahim Saliha, a 19-year-old civilian caught in clashes between militants and troops.
