MIDDLE EAST: Israeli and Palestinian leaders are committed to working together to ensure that the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip is violence-free and have also agreed to co- ordinate the demolition of settler homes, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday.
As Dr Rice wound up her two- day visit to the region, violence flared in Gaza where an Israeli soldier was killed after Palestinian militants ambushed troops on the Gaza-Egypt border. One attacker was killed in the exchange of fire.
"Israel and the Palestinian Authority share a commitment to ensure that disengagement happens smoothly, without violence," Dr Rice said after meeting leaders on both sides.
Ending weeks of uncertainty over the fate of evacuated settler homes, the Secretary of State said the two sides had agreed that the homes "should be removed. Therefore the parties will work towards a plan for destruction and clean-up."
The Israeli military had advised Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to leave the homes intact, fearing that demolishing them would force troops to spend a further three months in the Strip where they would be targets for militants. The Palestinians, however, had called for the homes to be razed on the grounds that the low-rise, single-family houses did not suit Palestinian needs in densely populated Gaza.
The rare agreement between the sides comes on the eve of a meeting tomorrow between Mr Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and less than two months before the Gaza withdrawal is set to begin.
Dr Rice yesterday parried criticism of Mr Abbas by Israeli leaders, who say he has done little to subdue militants. She called on Israel to give the Palestinian leader "a chance". Mr Sharon reiterated his position, however, that there would be no progress on the road map peace plan unless the Palestinians ensured there was a "complete halt to terror, violence and incitement".