RAMALLAH, 26 July 2005 — Mahmoud Abbas yesterday relocated to the Gaza Strip, where the Palestinian leader said he would be based for the duration of Israel’s historic pullout from the occupied territory this summer. Following a recent wave of deadly violence, Abbas is under immense international pressure to ensure that the pullout — to begin in three weeks — takes place free of militant attacks.
“I’m going now to Gaza to stay for the entire disengagement period to follow all the details about the disengagement from Gaza,” he told Palestinian radio.
“I will have contact with all the Palestinian parties,” he added. Fears that the pullout — Israel’s first pullout from Palestinian territory — could be accompanied by militant attacks were compounded over the weekend with the killing of two Israeli grandparents by Palestinians in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said he will “not countenance” such violence and threatened a harsh response to any possible unrest during and after the pullout, which is to begin on Aug. 17.
But Abbas also accused Israel yesterday of still failing to provide answers to key questions related to the withdrawal.
He said he had emphasized the need for swift answers on a range of issues such as the reopening of an airport in southern Gaza and a safe passage between the territory and the occupied West Bank during talks with visiting US Secretary Condoleezza Rice at the weekend.
“Until now there has not been a positive answer from the Israeli side, although there is contact with them,” he said in the interview. “I expect they will give us answers this week, but it will be very late.”
Talks between Palestinian Interior Minister Nasser Yousuf and Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz on next month’s pullout broke up Sunday with both sides admitting that they had failed to produce any kind of breakthrough. Rice had said she thought the two sides “are making some progress”.
“I think we can close many of these issues very expeditiously with enough will, perhaps a change in view here or a change in view there,” she said.
Although the operation to remove settlers from Gaza and four small Israeli enclaves in the northern West Bank is expected to last around three weeks, Israeli soldiers will stay behind to dismantle their equipment.
Keen to ensure troops out of harm’s way as soon as possible, the Israeli defense establishment has drawn up plans to ensure that no troops will be left in Gaza beyond Jewish new year on Oct. 3, Defense Ministry sources said.
The sources confirmed that nearly 60,000 soldiers and police are to be deployed during the operation, with around 10,000 reservists on standby.
Gen. Dan Harel, commander of the southern region that includes Gaza, was quoted as saying the pullout from the territory would take around three weeks and his troops were ready to respond firmly to any attacks during the process.
“If the violence continues during the withdrawal, the army could reoccupy parts of the Gaza Strip,” army radio reported him as saying. A poll released yesterday revealed that an overwhelming majority of Israeli settlers are opposed to the use of violence to prevent the pullout.
