GAZA CITY, 2 June 2003 — Israel yesterday eased its closure of the Palestinian territories three days ahead of a US-convened peace summit and amid expectations the two sides could declare a long-sought truce.
The army relaxed its blockade of the West Bank and Gaza Strip overnight, as part of a package of measures to ease the hardships on the Palestinians.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas was to leave the West Bank town of Ramallah for Jordan to prepare for Wednesday’s summit in the Red Sea resort of Aqaba, his office said.
“The complete closure has been lifted from midnight (2100 GMT),” an Israeli military spokesman said.
Israel has also announced a phased handover of security control in Gaza and West Bank towns to the Palestinians, following “positive” talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Abbas last Thursday.
The closure of the territories, effectively imposed two months after the intifada broke out in late September 2000, has left the Palestinian economy in tatters.
It has prevented Palestinian laborers from reaching jobs in Israel and hampered trade flow with the Jewish state and the rest of the world.
Palestinian security sources said 4,500 men aged 28 and above were allowed to cross into Israel from the Gaza Strip yesterday, compared with an average of 30,000 before the intifada.
Figures for the West Bank were not immediately available. The sources also said a security outpost and custom office were destroyed by the army early yesterday in the northern Strip, while the town of Beit Hanoun, likewise north of Gaza City, was still occupied by Israeli forces.
A leading Israeli newspaper said both Israel and the Palestinians could declare a cease-fire Wednesday at the Aqaba peace summit for an initial period of three weeks.
“The important announcement to come out of the summit should be that of a comprehensive cease-fire initially lasting around three weeks,” wrote Maariv.
After the three-week period, Israel will demand that Palestinian security forces move to prevent anti-Israeli attacks by arresting militants, according to the newspaper.
“We are going through critical days and if the cease-fire holds, it could be the end of the intifada,” or uprising against the Israeli occupation, wrote the paper, quoting Israeli defense officials.
Abbas’ Cabinet has said talks with radical groups to obtain a truce are “ongoing” and an answer is expected in the coming days.
“We expect to have an answer from the different groups on the (truce) proposal and hope to forge a national accord on this question,” the Cabinet said after a weekly meeting in Ramallah on Saturday.
It said contacts would continue with the groups until they gave their answer on the proposal to effectively suspend the uprising against Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank.
The latest timeline contrasts with comments made by Abbas in an interview with Israeli public television Friday that he believed he could convince hard-line groups to agree to the truce in two to three weeks.
But Hamas remained defiant with a warning Friday that it would continue its operations as long as Israel carries on with its “aggression.”
In another development, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat urged US President George W. Bush to push for the establishment of a Palestinian state, in an interview published yesterday.
His remarks came ahead of two summits which Bush is to hold in the Middle East this week to revive the peace process, one with Arab leaders and the other with the Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers.
“Carry on the message launched by your father at the Madrid peace conference by establishing an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital,” Arafat told the London-based Arab newspaper Al-Hayat.
