JERUSALEM, 22 April 2005 — Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was set to announce a three-week delay in Israel’s planned Gaza pullout to mid-August after defense chiefs yesterday recommended the delay. The defense chiefs endorsed the idea in order to avoid a Jewish mourning period. Sharon first suggested the postponement on Monday in what aides said was an effort to respect the mourning period and not aggravate religious settlers already fuming over their impending evacuation from Gaza, with many vowing resistance.
Sharon also demanded yesterday “a complete stop to terrorism” by Palestinians before any implementation of the international road map for peace. “We will not be committed to the road map until the Palestinians respect their commitment to stop terrorism,” Sharon told public radio.
At a meeting chaired by Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, police and army commanders urged that the start of the four-week pullout be put off until Aug. 15, Israeli media reported. The evacuation, which will see the removal of all troops and more than 8,000 Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip along with several hundred from the northern West Bank, was originally scheduled to begin in late July.
A senior Israeli military source involved in planning the pullout said troops would be ready for the operation, regardless of the date.
Meanwhile, Shimon Peres met with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei yesterday at a hotel in west Jerusalem to discuss the forthcoming pullout.
The meeting, which was attended by Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat and Civil Affairs Minister Mohammed Dahlan, also focused on Gaza’s economic future, a Palestinian source at the talks said.
The two sides discussed the possibility of a new meeting between Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, after a peace summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh in early February at which they declared an end to more than four years of hostilities.
However, Sharon tempered hopes of a breakthrough with a demand for a complete halt to Palestinian violence before Israel begins implementing the troubled Middle East peace road map.
The Palestinian leadership slammed Sharon’s comments, with Erakat calling on the peace plan’s sponsors to “do everything possible to force Israel to carry out its commitments under the road map, which imposes obligations on both parties”.
The informal truce between Palestinians and Israel has proved less than watertight with rocket and shooting attacks still occurring. One such attack saw an Israeli soldier lightly wounded near the Gaza border yesterday. The army said an explosive device blew up near the soldier’s jeep on an Israeli road which skirts the border with Gaza, just north of the Karni crossing.
— With input from agencies
