AMMAN, 4 August 2005 — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared yesterday that the Palestinians were “capable” of running the affairs of the Gaza Strip after the planned Israeli pullout, but said that a successful withdrawal from the territory would depend on the extent to which Israel was “sincere” in carrying out the plan.
“The Palestinian Authority is capable of running affairs at Gaza, but the responsibility lies with the Israeli side in being ready for that,” Abbas told reporters after talks with King Abdallah.
“The more sincere and cooperative was the Israeli side the better chances existed for a smooth withdrawal,” he said.
During a closed-door meeting with King Abdallah, the Palestinian president briefed the Jordanian leader on “steps and preparations taken by the Palestinian Authority for the post-pullout era”, according to a Royal Court statement.
However, the king “warned against any inter-Palestinian differences at this juncture and urged all Palestinian factions to take part in rebuilding the institutions that will form the nucleus of the Palestinian state”, the statement said.
King Abdallah also “considered a successful pullout from Gaza to lie in the continuation of the peace process, so that the withdrawal from Gaza should lead to successful withdrawal from the West Bank and the setting up of a Palestinian state as provided for in the road map”, it added.
Abbas made a stop-over in Amman while on his way back home from Riyadh, where he attended the funeral of the late Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd.
