JERUSALEM, 7 June 2005 — The Israeli Army may temporarily seize Palestinian-ruled areas in the Gaza Strip if Palestinians launch attacks during a planned withdrawal this August, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said yesterday.
“If during the period of the disengagement (from Gaza) there will be terrorism, firing, it would compel us to enter the Gaza Strip and to take over areas which overlook the areas of the evacuation,” an official quoted Mofaz as telling Parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
Israel plans to begin evacuating in mid-August all of the 21 Jewish settlements it has built on occupied land in the Gaza Strip and four of 120 in the West Bank. The pullout is expected to take about a month.
Mofaz said he had discussed the issue of possible attacks by militants during the withdrawal with senior Palestinian officials.
“I hope that during the upcoming meetings the Palestinians will present their preparations for the period of the disengagement,” Mofaz was quoted as saying. Israel has urged the Palestinian Authority to coordinate the pullout, particularly by reining in militants who have frequently targeted Gaza settlements during the past four years of fighting.
In a significant step toward coordination after months of deadlock and years of bloody conflict, Palestinians are recruiting thousands of police in the Gaza Strip to prevent attacks on Jewish settlers and soldiers during Israel’s planned pullout from the area, a security official said yesterday.
The new signs of cooperation, including a meeting of technical experts late yesterday, came despite a confrontation at a disputed holy site in Jerusalem in which Israeli police hurled stun grenades to disperse hundreds of Palestinian stone-throwers.
In Sharm El-Sheikh, Egyptian presidential spokesman Suleiman Awad said Israel was dragging its feet in handing over three West Bank cities to Palestinian security control, as agreed in a Palestinian-Israeli truce declared in February.
Israeli demands that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas — also known as Abu Mazen — dismantle Palestinian factions were “not realistic and not practical”.
“Why does (Israel) call on Abu Mazen to be swept into confrontation with the Palestinian factions, which have shown a great degree of wisdom ... by adhering to the truce and cooperating with the Palestinian National Authority?” Awad said.
“There is dawdling in the handover of the rest of the five Palestinian cities to the Palestinian side,” Awad told reporters after talks between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan’s King Abdallah in Sharm El-Sheikh.
