Condoleezza Rice, the United States secretary of state, announced on Sunday that Israel and the Palestinian Authority have agreed that the homes of 8 000 settlers in the Gaza Strip will be destroyed when they have been evacuated later this year.
Speaking in Jerusalem following meetings with Palestinian and Israeli leaders and officials, Ms Rice said that the demolitions would allow Palestinians to make better use of the evacuated land to ease overcrowding.
”The parties agree that they have to work this out in a cooperative way,” she said.
”The view is that there are better land use possibilities for the Palestinians that can better address their housing needs.”
Rice’s visit sets the stage for a summit between Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister, and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President, which is scheduled to take place on Tuesday.
The last summit, scheduled for the end of February, was cancelled following a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv. Israeli officials said that a spate of attacks including the killing of an Israeli soldier in Gaza on Thuesday would not prevent the meeting taking place.
Rice said the agreement on the demolition of the settler homes was part of a broader spectrum of coordination on Israel’s evacuation of the Gaza settlements. Following the evacuation which is anticipated to begin on August 15, Israeli forces will destroy the homes of around 8 000 people which range from mobile homes to large bungalows.
Some Israelis felt demolition of the property would seem negative in the eyes of the outside world. Others were horrified at the prospect of thousands of flag-waving Palestinians parading through the ”liberated” settlements. Palestinian officials felt the Israeli single family homes in large plots of land would be unsuitable for Gaza with its chronic overcrowding and tradition of living in extended families.
Rice told reporters that there was much common ground between the two sides.
Sharon said a successful evacuation of Gaza could revive the ”road map” peace process. Israel has said it will not begin negotiations with the Palestinians on a final settlement of the conflict until the PA has disarmed militant groups. ”I believe that a smooth and successful implementation of the plan in coordination with the Palestinians, will help energise the political process under the road map. All this is dependent on the Palestinians stopping the terror, violence and incitement, dismantling and disarming terror,” said Sharon.
His aides insisted that this time there would be no postponement of the summit in the event of violent incidents.
Ranaian Gissin, Sharon’s adviser, noted that there had been 11 attacks on Israelis in the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours. ”Now there’s a deadline. There’s no option. Either we disengage unilaterally or on coordination with the PA. This is going to happen come hell or high water. Everyone wants to use this as a springboard to the road map but that will be difficult without Palestinian participation and without them taking action against terror.”
Abbas last met Sharon in Sharm al Sheik in February, when they pledged to resolve future issues through negotiation rather than violence. Since then there has been a large fall in violence, leading to a surge in tourism.
However, Palestinian officials feel that apart from the release of 900 prisoners out of a total of 8 000 and the handing over of Jericho and Tulkarem, little has been done to improve the lives of Palestinians.
Gissin said that Israel would ease restrictions on Palestinians once the PA had arrested men who threatened the calm. ”We have passed them a list of people who are actively planning attacks on the terminals between Israel and the PA areas. Until they are arrested we cannot ease restrictions on Palestinians passing through these terminals.” – Guardian Unlimited Â