Palestinians recruit 5,000 police for Gaza pullout
Reuters
Date: 05-28-05
By Mohammed Assadi
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - The Palestinian Authority has begun to recruit 5,000 extra policemen in the Gaza Strip to ensure that Israel's planned withdrawal later this year goes smoothly, a Palestinian official said on Saturday.
Israel has urged the Palestinian Authority to ensure there are no attacks by militants on Israeli troops and settlers during the pullout, due to start in mid-August, and said that cooperation then would bode well for future ties.
"We have opened the door to enlist 5,000 policemen and members of national security forces," Interior Ministry spokesman Tawfiq Abu Khousa told Reuters. "These forces will join the Palestinian security services to prepare for the Israeli withdrawal," due to start in mid-August.
The new recruits will have 45 days of military training before starting work. They will be unarmed because the Palestinian security forces in Gaza are short of weapons, Abu Khousa said, urging Israel to allow them to be armed.
The Israeli withdrawal of all 8,500 settlers and troops from the Gaza Strip, which along with the West Bank has been occupied by Israel since the 1967 Middle East war, is expected to take around three months.
Palestinians welcome the pullout from hard-to-defend Gaza but fear Israel will at the same time tighten its grip on large swathes of the West Bank. They want the Gaza pullout to be a first step toward a full withdrawal from the West Bank.
Palestinian Interior Minister Nasser Yousef, who controls the Palestinian security forces, met Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz recently to discuss coordination of the withdrawal.
The Gaza Strip is a stronghold of the militant Islamic group Hamas, which made big gains there in recent municipal elections. Hamas has vowed to abide by a de facto ceasefire with Israel until the end of the year.
Israeli officials have said that attacks by militants during the pullout could complicate or even delay it.
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