GAZA CITY, 16 November 2004 — Trying to put the Gaza gunfight of Sunday behind it, the new Palestinian leadership held a series of talks aimed at creating what one called “a national accord” ahead of presidential elections in two months.
Mahmoud Abbas, the newly named head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, held talks with the leaders of radical groups, including Hamas, to persuade them to join the political process. Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad have condemned the shooting that appeared to have been aimed at Abbas’ visit to Gaza. Islamic Jihad yesterday categorically rejected participating in the planned elections as that would involve talks with the United States and Israel.
In what some analysts see as the first positive gesture by Ariel Sharon’s government toward Abbas, Israel yesterday indicated it might coordinate a planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip if the Palestinian Authority cracks down on militant groups.
Palestinian leaders reacted cautiously to remarks by Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and argued that Israel should “unconditionally” reopen peace talks under the US-backed road map. Sharon had previously refused to negotiate the “unilateral disengagement plan” with Arafat, insisting that he was responsible for four years of fighting.
If leaders emerge who are willing to stem the violence, Israel is prepared to coordinate the plan to move troops and 8,800 Jewish settlers out of the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements, Israeli officials said yesterday. Such coordination is considered critical to avoid a chaotic transition.
“Israel has every interest that Gaza will be ruled in a responsible manner when redeployment takes place,” Shalom told a conference of North American Jews in Cleveland. “If the new leadership on the Palestinian side acts to combat terror, then we will be able to consider coordinating aspects of the ‘day after’ with them.”
Later Shalom met US Secretary of State Colin Powell to learn more about President Bush’s latest ideas on creating a Palestinian state within the next four years. Palestinians confirmed yesterday that Powell would visit the Middle East next week.
Israeli and Palestinian officials alike have expressed fears that an evacuation from Gaza that is not coordinated would bring chaos to the Gaza Strip, where militant groups have been vying for control in recent months.
A cease-fire by Palestinian fighters is a central Israeli condition for the coordination of the Gaza pullout plan, a senior Israeli official said. Israel also expects the Palestinians to disarm the groups, stop anti-Israeli incitement and implement security and financial reforms, the official added.
In response, Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat said he suspected the Israelis would put up too many conditions for coordinating the pullout. “Israel should talk to us unconditionally,” Erekat said.
The Palestinian Authority is required in the road map to combat militant groups.
The plan, backed by the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia, was formally accepted by the sides in 2003 but never got off the ground due to mutual accusations of violations. Under the plan, Israel is slated to dismantle illegal settlement outposts and freeze settlement activity but has been reluctant to do so. The plan calls for an end to violence and the creation of a Palestinian state.
In another indication that Israel was pushing ahead with its implementation of its Gaza pullout plans, an Israeli parliamentary committee approved the allotment of almost $8 million to an authority overseeing the disengagement.
The decision cleared the way for the government to begin paying compensation to Jewish settlers who evacuate voluntarily.
The plan outlines advance payments in compensation as an incentive to settlers to lessen what settler leaders warn will be mass demonstrations to prevent the dismantling of the settlements.
