RAMALLAH, West Bank, 20 April 2004 — The Palestinian leadership, following a meeting chaired by Yasser Arafat, said yesterday that Israel’s planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip would turn the territory into a “large prison. As part of a package of unilateral measures termed the disengagement plan, Sharon is planning to evacuate all the Jewish settlements in Gaza.
But it will retain control over the border with Egypt around the southern Gaza town of Rafah and the Palestinians will not be allowed to reopen Gaza’s international airport or open any ports. The leadership said that Sharon’s plan ran in violation of UN “resolutions and international law” and was designed to prejudge the outcome of final status negotiations between the two sides.
“The withdrawal from Gaza should be a proper withdrawal and not just a facade. It must be accompanied by a withdrawal from the West Bank as part of the framework of the roadmap and not as a substitute,” Arafat was quoted as saying in the meeting.
Sharon has said he has no option but to implement unilateral measures in the absence of any progress in the bilaterally agreed road map which aims for the creation of a Palestinian state by next year. While willing to evacuate the Jewish residents of Gaza, Sharon has made clear that he intends to keep control of blocs of settlements in the West Bank.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned yesterday of “chaos” if Israel goes ahead with its unilateral plan without first striking a deal with the Palestinians.
If Sharon “abruptly pulls out of Gaza without any coordination, we will see chaos,” he told French television during a visit to Paris. “I fear the violence will intensify and the terrorist operations will intensify,” he said.
In a meeting with President Jacques Chirac after the interview, Mubarak said he was going to urge the international community and especially Europe to use its influence in the ongoing conflict. Mubarak said Israel’s assassination of the two leaders of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas over the past month, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdelaziz Al-Rantissi, have made things “more difficult in the future not only for the stability of the region and the Arab world, but also for the United States and Europe.
“The actions of the Palestinians must not be underestimated, because they are a people who have lost their land - they are desperate and anything could happen.”
Sharon won his foreign minister’s support yesterday for his Gaza Strip withdrawal plan, backing that would give him a crucial boost before putting the proposal to a vote. Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom joined other key ministers who have already pledged support for the US-endorsed pullout plan.
“(Despite) reservations and the enormous ideological pain, I have decided to support the prime minister’s program,” Shalom announced in a news conference in Jerusalem.
