GAZA CITY, Aug 20: Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas urged Israel to stop all its settlement activity in the West Bank if it was serious about peace as the evacuation of settlers from Gaza was put on hold on Saturday for the Jewish sabbath.
Having presided over the first ever withdrawal from occupied Palestinian territory, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made clear earlier this week that he would ‘continue and develop’ Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Israel’s historic pullout from Gaza, which is nearing the closing stages well before schedule, has been seen as an opportunity to revitalize the moribund peace process.
But both Mr Abbas and Hamas made clear that the ending of the 38-year Israeli presence in Gaza 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 ‘first step’, Mr 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.
But he added it was vital that Israel pulls out of all areas reoccupied since the start of the Palestinian uprising in Sept 2000 in the West Bank.
“After that it must stop the settlements and its judaising of Jerusalem,” he said in a speech in Gaza City.
“Those who continue with these measures show they do not want peace.”
While Mahmoud Abbas, a frequent critic of the armed uprising, is seen as the moderate voice among Palestinians, he is facing a severe test of his popularity from the hardliners of Hamas who are portraying the Israeli departure from Gaza as a ‘victory for the resistance’.
A ballot box showdown between Hamas and Mr Abbas’s Fatah movement is now on the cards after Mr Abbas announced that only the second ever legislative elections would take place on Jan 25.
A spokesman confirmed that Hamas, which boycotted the last elections a decade ago, would participate this time ‘with the aim of serving our people and stopping the monopoly of the decision-making and putting an end to the corruption’.
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 Hamas’s Gaza stronghold or end their campaign against Israel ‘until the defeat of the occupation from all our land’.
—AFP