Palestinian Authority Ready to Coordinate Pullout With Israel 

Hisham Abu Taha, Arab News

RAMALLAH, 18 April 2005 — 

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said yesterday he is willing to coordinate the Gaza pullout with Israel — a step considered by Israel and the United States as a key for averting chaos in Gaza after the evacuation.

The official attitude of the Palestinians could be crucial to the success of the operation, and Abbas said he would work with the Israelis, but only under certain conditions.

Speaking in Cairo after meeting Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak, Abbas said, “We are ready to coordinate with the Israelis completely. But we have to know where our feet are taking us, and whether (the disengagement) is tied to the road map, and whether they are complete withdrawals.” The road map is an internationally backed peace plan leading to a Palestinian state.

Dov Weisglass, a top aide to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said, “We would of course welcome this step, and at the moment we receive a formal announcement, the channels of communication will open and will be immediately activated,” he told Israel TV.

The two statements contain the seeds of disagreements that could scuttle joint planning, leaving the fate of houses of the 8,500 settlers uncertain. Israel wants to turn the houses over to the Palestinians, but only in the framework of full coordination of the evacuation. Israel says its “disengagement” can be linked to the road map, but insists that the Palestinians carry out their main commitment in the first phase of the plan — dismantling militant groups responsible for attacks against Israelis during more than four years of uprising against the Israeli occupation.

In another development Israel said yesterday it will begin building dozens of temporary homes for settlers and formed a committee of top ministers to coordinate the pullout. With just three months to go before the start of the operation, shaping up as one of Israel’s traumatic, planning appears to be lagging behind. Yesterday, for the first time, the government appointed a committee to decide where to put the settlers.

At yesterday’s Israeli Cabinet meeting, ministers voted to allocate 19.5 million shekels ($4.5 million) for the construction of 150 temporary housing units in southern Israel, an official who participated in the meeting said.

The official, who spoke on condition on anonymity because of the nature of the information, said construction would begin within several days, and would go forward in five communities. Israel Radio said the sites would be in rural villages near the Gaza border.

The Cabinet decision on establishing a committee to oversee the withdrawal program was taken to “increase its efficiency and speed up work related to the evacuation of communities in the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank and provide alternative living solutions,” Sharon’s office said.

One idea is to relocate most of the settlers not far from Gaza, near a coastline nature preserve. However, environmentalists oppose the plan. Settlers called off a follow-up meeting with Sharon set for yesterday.

— With input from agencies