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Palestinian police atop a hill in Beit Lahiya in the northern Strip. Many rockets on the Israeli city of Sderot have come from around here. (AP)
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners January 21, 2005 |
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| AP |
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Thousands of armed Palestinian police took up positions in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday to prevent attacks on Israel, and Islamic militants said they were suspending rocket fire -- two major steps toward a possible truce after more than four years of bloody Mideast conflict.
The Palestinian deployment, a result of renewed Israeli-Palestinian security coordination, came as Hamas reported progress in talks with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on a cease-fire deal. Abbas was to meet with Hamas leaders later Friday, the second session in three days.
The situation remains volatile, however, with major violence by either side threatening to torpedo fledgling moves toward calm.
Similar negotiations have failed in the past, and Israel is balking at a key demand by the militants -- a guarantee that it will halt military operations, including arrest raids and targeted killings of wanted men. Israel's deputy defense minister, Zeev Boim, said Friday that Israel would respond with "great force" to renewed rocket fire.
However, militants have not fired rockets since Wednesday, and Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri told The Associated Press that the group was suspending such attacks. "One can't be negotiating and firing rockets at the same time. It just doesn't work," he said.
In his meetings with Hamas and other groups, Abbas is also trying to forge agreement on a joint political platform that would give him a stronger mandate in future negotiations with Israel. The document being considered calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, al-Masri said.
The spokesman indicated that Hamas hasn't ruled out the idea. "This document still requires a lot of meetings before it can be accepted by all the Palestinian factions," he said.
Hamas is pledged to Israel's destruction and has carried out many suicide bombings that have killed hundreds of Israelis. But in the past it has indicated a willingness to consider long-term truces.
The militant Islamic Jihad group on Friday denied reports that it had agreed in principle with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to a ceasefire.
Jihad denies deal but will "keep calm"
Haaretz reported Wednesday that Abbas and Islamic Jihad were close to striking a deal, and a Channel 10 report on Friday reinforced the claims. Leaders of the terror group, however, vehemently denied the reports.
Abu Abdullah, a leader of the group's military wing, said the report was "false."
"Talks are still underway between us and Mr. Mahmoud Abbas," Abu Abdullah said.
Nafez Azzam, the top Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza, said the Israeli television was "not accurate."
Police spread out
Throughout the day Friday, some 3,000 Palestinian police were taking up positions in the northern half of Gaza, security officials said. Over the weekend, troops are also to be deployed in the southern half.
After the outbreak of fighting in 2000, Palestinian police had increasingly stayed off the streets, for fear of being targeted by Israeli troops. Israel has said many members of the Palestinian security forces were involved in the fighting, and has repeatedly hit police positions.
The previous large-scale Palestinian police deployment in Gaza came in the summer of 2003, after militants agreed to a temporary cease-fire. The truce unraveled less than two months later and police returned to their barracks. Israel has accused Palestinian security forces in Gaza of doing nothing to stop attacks on Israelis.
In Friday's deployment, some officers took up posts they had abandoned in the past, and began checking vehicles driving close to Israeli army positions. From the town of Beit Lahiya, a frequent rocket launching area, five dozen members of Palestinian military intelligence, wearing red berets, set out on patrol in new pickup trucks.
"We've received orders to deploy all along the northern border areas to take complete control," said the group's commander, Ismail Dahdouh.
Israeli officials said it is too soon to pass judgment on the Palestinian effort. Boim, the deputy defense minister, indicated that Israel would not promise now to halt military operations, but that the issue could be discussed in future talks between Abbas, widely known as Abu Mazen, and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. "I assume that further down the line, there will be a meeting, and we'll see exactly what Abu Mazen wants," Boim told Israel Radio.
Sharon sent messages to Abbas and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, which began Thursday. Sharon wrote that he hopes that the entire region will be blessed by peace and prosperity, said Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat. Abbas responded that the two sides should work together to reach a peace agreement.
"We are extending maximum effort to carry out our obligation to stop violence against Israelis everywhere," said Erekat. "We urge the Israeli side to return to the negotiating table so we can have a declaration of a mutual cessation of violence."
Ordinary Palestinians, who have suffered much hardship as a result of the fighting, welcomed the police presence in the streets.
"This is the first step toward security and order, something that has been missing, especially in the past year," said Mohammed Al-Ashi, 22, a mobile phone salesman in Gaza City. Al-Ashi said rocket fire was harming the Palestinians' interests because it invites Israeli retaliation.
In further signs of easing tensions, the army on Friday opened the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border, the Palestinians' only link to the Arab world, to incoming traffic. The crossing has been closed since a Dec. 12 attack on the Israeli military post there killed six people.
The AP contributed to this report.
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