Abbas: Palestinians must allow orderly Gaza pullout


Reuters
 Date: 08-09-05

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Abbas urged the Palestinians on Tuesday to ensure calm for Israel's evacuation of its Gaza settlements, saying an orderly transfer of control would boost the Palestinian quest for statehood.

Addressing a special parliamentary session in Gaza, he also called on militants to abide by a ceasefire with the Jewish state and warned his people against seizing property or looting after the Israelis pull out. The withdrawal begins on Aug. 17.

Abbas's speech, carried live on Palestinian television, marked his sternest message yet of the Palestinian Authority's intention to prevent chaos in the Gaza Strip after Israel uproots all 8,500 settlers living in the occupied territory.

"The withdrawal must take place in calm ... so that we can confirm to the world that we deserve a state and that this step is just the beginning and not the end," he told lawmakers, and also announced a long-delayed general election in January.

Israel wants Abbas's security forces to keep militants reined in during the pullout and has vowed to strike back hard if attacks are launched during the evacuation.

Condemning rocket fire against Israeli targets, Abbas -- facing a growing challenge from the militant Islamic group Hamas -- said the "national interest" required armed groups to abide by a six-month-old truce that has often been marred by violence.

"We don't want any provocation," he said. "Let them go, let us allow them to leave."

But in a sign of difficulties Abbas faces, about 200 masked, armed militants from his own Fatah movement rallied outside the parliament session demanding an end to what they said were recent attempts by security forces to arrest their members.

Abbas also urged against excessive celebration ahead of the Israeli pullout. Just hours before, about 200 Palestinians waved flags and banners near Gaza's largest settlement, chanting "Today Gaza, tomorrow Jerusalem."

SHARON UNDER PRESSURE

Palestinians welcome any Israeli pullout but fear that Sharon's play is a ruse to trade tiny Gaza for much of the West Bank, where the majority of Israel's 240,000 settlers live.

Laying the groundwork for Palestinian politics after the withdrawal, Abbas -- a moderate who took office after the death of longtime leader Yasser Arafat in November -- said the much delayed parliamentary election would take place in January.

The international community has sought such a legislative ballot as a way to advance democratic reforms.

Sharon has billed his plan to remove all 21 Gaza settlements and four of 120 in the West Bank as "disengagement" from conflict with the Palestinians.

Polls show most Israelis back the pullout, but settlers and their supporters say it rewards a Palestinian uprising and betrays Israel's claims on biblical lands.

In the latest challenge to Sharon, prominent rightist lawmaker Uzi Landau said he would seek to topple the prime minister as head of the ruling Likud party before the next general election, due in 2006.

Landau, leader of a Likud "rebel" faction that tried in vain to scuttle Sharon's Gaza plan, told a news conference he would run in Likud's next party leadership election.

Sharon's main rival then is expected to be Benjamin Netanyahu, an ex-prime minister who resigned as finance minister on Sunday in protest at the impending Gaza withdrawal.

Israel's Gaza settlers live in heavily fortified enclaves isolated from 1.4 million Palestinians. The World Court has called the settlements illegal. Israel disputes this.

Source

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