Palestinian Traffic Flows Freely in Gaza Strip

Monday, June 30, 2003

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  — Israeli and Palestinian commanders shook hands Monday, bulldozers dismantled checkpoints and Palestinian traffic flowed freely in the Gaza Strip (search) -- the most significant sign of disengagement after 33 months of bloody fighting.

But a Palestinian shooting killed a Romanian truck driver in the West Bank (search), suggesting some armed bands had not been brought into line with the day-old ceasefire called by militant groups.

Under a U.S.-backed peace plan, Israel pulled troops out of northern Gaza late Sunday, and agreed to withdraw from the West Bank town of Bethlehem (search) on Wednesday.

In another reflection of the bid to end 33 months of fighting, prime ministers Ariel Sharon of Israel and Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority were to meet in Jerusalem on Tuesday, Palestinian sources said.

Several Palestinian militant groups announced a suspension of attacks against Israelis on Sunday. The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for Monday's shooting. Fatah had earlier said Al Aqsa would halt attacks, but the militia consists of bands of gunmen who do not recognize a central authority -- unlike the armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the other signatories to the three-month truce.

Both sides have been skeptical the cease-fire will hold, having been disappointed so many times before. A dispute loomed over Israel's demand that the Palestinian Authority dismantle the militant groups altogether.

But there was no immediate Israeli outcry over the attack, a sign it would not derail the movement forward.

There was a first glimmer of optimism as Israeli troops pulled out of Beit Hanoun, which had seen most of its farmland razed by Israeli bulldozers.

"You were late," Mohammed Shabat, 65, pointing to the destruction, told Palestinian policemen who took over the Israeli positions. "But, God willing, we will bring this town back to the old days."

"This is a very important and serious step by the Israeli side toward the implementation of the road map," said Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Amr.

Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said Israel should withdraw from all West Bank towns within six weeks. "Things are promising and we must seize this moment," he said.

The two largest Israeli dailies, Yediot Ahronot and Maariv, framed their front-pages in blue, normally reserved for editions on Jewish holidays. "Cease-fire," read a banner headline in the Maariv daily, above a photo of two soldiers hugging in Gaza. Yediot had soldiers posing on a tank with an Israeli flag.

The withdrawal scenes were reminiscent of the mid-1990s, when Israeli troops pulled out of Palestinian population centers as part of interim peace deals. Since fighting erupted in September 2000, Israel has reoccupied most of those areas; 2,414 people have been killed on the Palestinian side and 806 on the Israeli side.

Two new ingredients raised hope for the current cease-fire effort: both sides, exhausted by the carnage, are grateful for the break in fighting, and the United States is intensively engaged in supervising implementation of the so-called "road map" to Mideast peace and Palestinian statehood by 2005.

Over the weekend, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice held talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders on how to move forward.

On Sunday, the three major Palestinian factions -- Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah -- announced a suspension of attacks. The two Islamic militant groups agreed to lay down arms for three months, while Fatah announced a six-month truce.

Israel reacted coldly to the Palestinian truce announcements, which were accompanied by a number of demands, including a prisoner release and a halt to all Israeli military strikes. They were not presented as preconditions.

Israel has refused to make blanket promises, but pledged to halt targeted attacks of wanted Palestinians in areas now controlled by Palestinian police.

"The cease-fire agreement (with the militants) was not reached with Israel," said Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom Monday. "Since we are not party to it, its conditions are none of our business." Shalom said Israel had U.S. backing in demanding that "the Palestinian Authority dismantle the terror organizations."

A senior security source told AP that this meant confiscating the militants' weapons, destroying bomb factories and arresting anyone trying to carry out attacks -- but in an important nuance added that arrests of leaders or militants who carried out attacks in the past would not be required.

In Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, Palestinian police arrived in a convoy of blue cruisers Monday morning but were forced to stop at the outskirts. Israeli troops had destroyed the main roads, including three overpasses, effectively cutting off the town from the rest of Gaza. A bulldozer was called in to carve a path toward a nearby industrial zone, so workers could get to their jobs for the first time in two months.

Israeli troops had moved in and out so many times that it become routine, as they tried to stop Palestinian militants from firing homemade rockets over the fence at the Israeli town of Sderot, less than a mile away.

Ali Zaaneen, whose four-acre vegetable farm had been leveled by troops, watched the arrival of the police convoy without excitement. "The Israeli aggression has left no space in our heart for hope and joy," he said.

Witnesses said that troops had destroyed dozens of buildings, thousands of trees and a three-mile stretch of road connecting the town with Gaza City. Sufian Hammad, a spokesman for the Beit Hanoun municipality, said many thousands of orange trees had been uprooted.

As the last tanks pulled out of town, two young boys emerged from a house and planted a Palestinian flag in the sand.

"I hope that this will be the last time we see them as invaders," said Rafet Jamal, 45, watching from a balcony with his 12-year-old son.

Later in the morning, Israel dismantled checkpoints along the main north-south roads, which had been a major cause of hardship. Palestinian motorists trying to get from one end of Gaza to the other had often waited for hours at the barriers.

Israeli and Palestinian commanders opening the road shook hands at the Netzarim Junction, one of the tensest spots during the fighting. Israeli and Palestinian bulldozers then worked side by side to push cement blocks and other barriers out of the way.

The United States offered qualified support for the developments. "Anything that reduces violence is a step in the right direction," White House spokeswoman Ashley Snee said. "Under the road map, parties have an obligation to dismantle terrorist infrastructure. There is still more work to be done."

Quoted:
The problem is, the Arabs are going to play this up as a victory for them, and a defeat for Israel.  They'll use it to fire up their troops when they say "Look what we did!  We pushed them out of Gaza! We need to step up the attacks!"

They did the same thing in 1999, when Israel pulled out of Lebanon.  They did it good faith to show the Arabs they were willing to make concessions to peace and could be trusted, the Arabs just chalked it up as a won battle in the war to destroy Israel.