CAIRO, 13 September 2005 — Arab leaders yesterday praised the end of Israel’s occupation of the Gaza Strip as an important step, but called for Israel to follow through by withdrawing from all Palestinian territories.
“We consider the withdrawal an important step that should be followed by other steps,” Said Kamel, the Arab League’s assistant secretary general for Palestinian affairs, told reporters in the Egyptian capital.
He hoped the move would open the way for the exchange of land for peace as demanded by the 22-member pan-Arab body in a resolution which Arab leaders adopted during a 2002 summit in Beirut.
Israel closed the door yesterday on four decades of occupation in the Gaza Strip as Palestinians took control of the territory, raising international hopes of a genuine breakthrough in the moribund peace process after five years of bloodshed.
The pullout was viewed warmly in Jordan, where around half the population is of Palestinian origin and which controlled the West Bank territory until Israel seized it in 1967.
“We welcome the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and we consider it a first step on the way to a pullout from West Bank regions as well,” Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Moasher told a weekly news conference.
Moasher pledged that Jordan will continue to work with all the concerned parties to guarantee that the Gaza pullout “will be the prelude to a viable Palestinian state.”
“Otherwise we can’t talk of a complete withdrawal,” he said. Moasher also warned Israel that the territory would become a “big prison” if Israel did not reopen crossing points and guarantee freedom of movement for Palestinians.
In Damascus, President Bashar Assad met with 10 leaders of armed Palestinian groups, including Hamas. Assad highlighted the “importance of Palestinian national unity” and promised Syria’s support “for the Palestinian people so that they can regain all their rights,” according to the official SANA news agency.
Syrian Information Minister Mehdi Dakhlallah hailed the Israeli pullout as a “military defeat” saying the operation “was completed due to the Palestinian resistance,” SANA said.
The Palestinian Authority has insisted there could be no peace unless Israel gives up all Palestinian territory conquered in 1967.
Meanwhile, the United States and its partners in the Middle East diplomatic “quartet” will meet during the UN General Assembly hoping to revive their road map for peace after Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza.
But with some issues from the pullout still unresolved and political tensions high among both Israelis and Palestinians, there was little indication when broader talks would resume.
