RAMALLAH, July 21: Palestinians will celebrate ‘over every single metre of land’ that Israel withdraws from after its planned Gaza pullout in mid-August, Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei said on Thursday. “We will organise celebrations for the day they complete their withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank,” Mr Qorei told reporters at the government headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

“We should celebrate over every single metre that they withdraw from,” Mr Qorei added.

He stressed the celebrations would be peaceful. Other Palestinian officials said national flags would be unfurled and there would be parades and dancing in the streets.

Mr Qorei spoke to reporters hours before U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visits the region on a troubleshooting mission after a recent flare-up in Israeli-Palestinian violence threatened to jeopardise the Israeli pullout from occupied land.—Reuters