Jordan Times
Friday, August 5, 2005
Pullout coordination key
— King
Jewish extremist teen shoots dead 4 Arab Israelis
Agence France-Presse
His Majesty King Abdullah said Thursday that
Israel must follow up its pullout from the Gaza Strip with a similar withdrawal
from the West Bank to ensure the Palestinians can establish a future state.
"The Gaza pullout must be a prelude to a withdrawal from the West Bank and the
creation of a viable state," King Abdullah told Israeli Defence Minister Shaul
Mofaz at a meeting in Aqaba.
The King also emphasised the need to "ensure the success of the peace process
after the Gaza pullout," according to a Royal Court statement.
"Implementation of the roadmap is the only way to achieve a peace that
guarantees the rights of all parties and enables us to find peace and
stability," the Monarch added.
The internationally drafted roadmap peace plan, which calls for the creation of
a Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel, has made next to no progress
since its launch in 2003.
Israel is to evacuate a total of 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip in an
operation starting in mid-August after which four isolated Israeli enclaves in
the northern West Bank will also be dismantled.
King Abdullah said it was important to see "full cooperation between Israel and
the Palestinians to ensure the success of the operation in a calm manner."
The Palestinians fear that once it ends its occupation of Gaza, Israel will try
to strengthen its hold on the West Bank.
'Bloodthirsty Jewish terrorist'
Meanwhile, a teenage Israeli soldier on Thursday shot dead four people in a
blazing row over the country's imminent withdrawal from Gaza before being
lynched by furious residents of an Arab Israeli town.
The shooting, the first deadly incident connected to Israel's controversial plan
to uproot all troops and settlers from Gaza and parts of the northern West Bank,
heightened fears about possible violence during the historic pullout.
The 19-year-old religiously observant Jew, dressed in army fatigues, unleashed a
volley of fire inside a bus in the northern Galilee town of Shfaram in an
argument over the pullout, police said.
Four Arab Israeli passengers died in the hail of bullets. The gunman was lynched
by a furious crowd as hundreds flocked to the blood-smeared bus in a Druze
neighbourhood of Shfaram shortly after the attack, police and witnesses said.
Among the victims were two students, the driver of Bus 165, which served the
route between Shfaram and the main northern city of Haifa, and a local Shfaram
resident. Four other passengers were also injured, two of them seriously, public
television said.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon swiftly issued a statement in which he
condemned the shooting as "a reprehensible act by a bloodthirsty Jewish
terrorist who sought to attack innocent Israeli citizens."
"This is an extremely serious incident and we have mobilised our forces to deal
with any eventuality," Dan Ronen, commander of the police's northern division,
said.
"The gunman, Nathan Zaada, was a 19-year-old soldier who was originally from
Rishon Le Tzion [near Tel Aviv] and had recently turned to religion," he said.
Public Security Minister Gideon Ezra urged Israel's 1.2-million-strong Arab
population to remain calm.
"I call on you to do everything possible to enable us to carry out the
disengagement plan," he said.
Bentzi Lieberman, chairman of the main settler organisation Yesha, condemned the
shooting and said disengagement "has led individuals to lose their head."
The Palestinian Authority urged the Israeli authorities to prevent similar
attacks in the context of tensions over the Gaza pullout.
"The Israeli government must collect the weapons of the settlers and take steps
against the settler leaders because they endanger Palestinian civilians and the
general Israeli system," Samir Hileelah, secretary general of the Palestinian
Cabinet, told AFP.
The shooting came just hours after Palestinians in Gaza celebrated the pullout —
less than two weeks before the withdrawal is due to begin.
Partly to appease radical settlers, Sharon has insisted that disengagement from
Gaza will be an opportunity to strengthen Israeli control over the West Bank.
Israel's housing ministry said it was inviting tenders for scores of new houses
south of Jerusalem, in direct contravention of the internationally drafted
roadmap peace plan launched two years ago.
"We have issued appeals for 72 housing units in Beitar Ilit," Kobi Bleich told
AFP, adding that the project had been approved last year.
"These buildings will be constructed within the existing boundaries of Beitar
Ilit and will form part of Gush Etzion," a large bloc of settlements.
Under the terms of the roadmap, endorsed by the government in 2003, Israel is
obliged to freeze all settlement activity.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the Israeli expansion plan, with chief
negotiator Saeb Erekat warning it "could wreck the peace process and destroy any
possibility of relaunching negotiations on a final status agreement."
Outside the parliament building in Gaza City, Palestinians celebrated the
imminent departure of Jewish settlers from the territory after a 38-year
occupation.
Prime minister Ahmed Qureia told the crowd of around 10,000 people that the
pullout would be the first step towards the creation of their promised state,
including the whole of the West Bank with East Jerusalem as its capital.
He said the dismantling of all 21 Gaza settlements and another four in the
northern West Bank must be a precursor to further pullouts.
"There is no way that this Israeli move can be a final move. It must be the
first step," he said.
As part of efforts to prevent attacks by Palestinian groups during the pullout,
Israeli military sources said that the army had begun reinforcing its presence
in Gaza.
Israel has threatened to launch a massive ground offensive into the Gaza Strip
should Palestinians open fire during the pullout.