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| Israel-Palestine | |||
| Israel to wrap up Gaza exit | |||
| 2005-08-21 | |||
| JERUSALEM - Israel was to resume its historic operation to remove the last remaining Jews from the Gaza Strip Sunday and give the final seal of approval for the first ever evacuation from the occupied West Bank. The dramatic progress made by the army and police in the first three days of forcible evacuations meant that only three Gaza settlements had any sizeable population still remaining before the operation was suspended on Friday afternoon for the start of the Jewish sabbath. Troops were expected Sunday to move into the southern settlements of Katif and Atsmona, leaving only the isolated settlement of Netzarim to be tackled on Monday. The pullout from Gaza after a 38-year occupation had been initially scheduled to take some three weeks, after which the security forces were then to have turned their attention to the northern West Bank. But with the Gaza withdrawal nearing completion, military sources have said the operation in the northern West Bank is likely to begin now in mid-week. Hundreds of activists, many of whom took part in the âdefenceâ of the Gaza Strip settlements, have flocked to the northern West Bank communities of Sanur and Homesh to take part in the final showdown. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, whose disengagement plan has earned him the enmity of his former allies on the Israeli right and within the settler movement, was to convene his cabinet Sunday where ministers were to give final approval for the evacuation of Homesh and Sanur. Having packed his cabinet with supporters of disengagement, the outcome of the vote is in no doubt. Israel began its occupation of the West Bank after the 1967 war with its Arab neighbours, slowly but surely building settlements across the territory, which should form the bulk of the Palestiniansâ promised future state. Sharon has made no apologies about the West Bank settlement programme, saying in a speech last week that it will âcontinue and developâ. But Sundayâs cabinet vote should seal his place in the history books as the first Israeli leader to sanction the pullout from any part of an area known by Jews as Judea and Samaria, the heart of Biblical Israel. Disengagement has raised hopes of a genuine revival of the moribund But both moderate Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and the radical Islamist movement Hamas made clear on Saturday that it was not about to usher in a new era of peace for a region torn by five years of conflict. Hailing the withdrawal from Gaza as a âfirst stepâ, Abbas confirmed that his Palestinian Authority would take control over all vacated land and planned to build 3,000 new homes on one of the settlements, Morag.
Just as the Palestinian leader was delivering his speech in Gaza City, militants of the armed wing of Hamas, the Ezzedine Al Qassam Brigades, were delivering their own verdict on the implications of the pullout. In a statement handed to reporters, they reiterated that they would not disarm after the pullout from Hamasâs Gaza stronghold or end their campaign against Israel âuntil the defeat of the occupation from all our landâ.
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| Posted by:Steve White |