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A Palestinian security officer carries a rocket in Beit Lahiya in the northen Gaza Strip. (AP)
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| By israelinsider staff and partners June 8, 2005 |
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Palestinian and Israeli officials are concerned about further escalation in Gaza Strip violence, particularly after terrorists directed heavy Qassam rocket and mortar fire at Gush Katif settlements and the southern Israeli town of Sderot in recent days.
Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and his Palestinian counterpart, Nasser Yousef, were to meet later Wednesday evening to discuss the security situation.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said he expects the cease-fire to survive and urged terrorists to respect it.
"I'm not worried about the calm," Abbas said after a meeting with the visiting British foreign secretary, Jack Straw. "The calm is our responsibility, and I hope that all of us will honor their responsibilities," he added.
Abbas spoke before the Israeli airstrike. Later Wednesday, Abbas headed to Gaza for talks with Hamas and other violent groups. Officials said the talks would focus on the latest incidents as well as a dispute between Abbas' Fatah Party and Hamas over recently postponed legislative elections.
Israeli officials have urged Abbas to crack down on militant groups like Hamas and reserve the right to hit militants carrying out attacks, as in Wednesday's airstrike in Gaza.
Straw, speaking to reporters, said Britain supports Israel's right to defend itself.
"If God forbid the situation goes backward and the Israelis are subject to more terror, then no Israeli government can stand idly by," he said.
The militants have sent mixed signals over the truce. Hamas and Islamic Jihad have periodically fired barrages of rockets and mortars at Israeli targets, claiming they are in response to Israeli violations. At the same time, the groups have said they remain committed to preserving the quiet.
On Wednesday, a senior Hamas official in the West Bank said the group is ready for dialogue with the U.S. and Europe, even though it rejects calls from the West to disarm.
"We are interested in the dialogue," said Mohammed Ghazal. "But we are not able to meet their conditions now before resolving our national cause."
Straw ruled out any talks with the group, which calls for the destruction of Israel, as long as it remains committed to violence.
"The fact that a terrorist organization stands in election does not mean it ceases to be a terror organization," Straw said. "Hamas will stay on that list until it declares the renunciation of violence in practice as well as in words and until it ceases to be committed to the destruction of Israel."
Despite Straw's tough words, the British foreign secretary acknowledged in a radio interview Tuesday that British diplomats recently met with Hamas-affiliated politicians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
In Washington, U.S. officials on Tuesday also rejected talks with Hamas. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Hamas"is designated as a terrorist organization, and we do not have dialogue with designated terrorist organizations."
Israel wants the cease-fire to remain in effect to ease the way for its planned withdrawal from Gaza and part of the West Bank in August.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon chaired a ministerial meeting Wednesday where preparations for the withdrawal were discussed.
The meeting was uncharacteristically opened to journalists, in an apparent effort to dispel impressions that the government isn't ready to provide alternative housing, jobs and schools for the 9,000 settlers who are to be relocated.
"The evacuation will take place on schedule," Sharon said, criticizing "incitement," threats and pressure on the settlers by opponents of the pullout.
Officials said only about half of the settlers slated for evacuation are in talks with the government about moving, defying calls by their leaders to oppose the plan at all costs, officials said Wednesday.
Pullout opponents have urged settlers not to cooperate with the pullout plan, and some settlers who have said they are ready to go say they have been threatened and ostracized.
"They are not concerned with the fate of the settlers and their children," Sharon said. "They are willing to create great suffering on top of the suffering the evacuation will inflict, in order to achieve their political aims."
Eran Sternberg, a settler spokesman, accused Sharon of reacting to shrinking support for his plan.
An Israel Radio poll published Wednesday showed popular support for the withdrawal falling to 50 percent, from 60 percent and higher a year ago. The radio gave no details on the poll's methodology or margin of error.
The AP contributed to this report.
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