Israel began implementing a number of the steps designed to
ease conditions for Palestinians and "build confidence,"
including ending the closure of the territories and allowing
more Palestinians to enter Israel with work permits. On
Sunday Israel announced that 25,000 Palestinians will be
allowed into Israel, 15,000 from Gaza and 10,000 from Judea
and Samaria. Before the closure was imposed around Pesach,
only 10,000 had been allowed entry. Prime minister Sharon
also told the Cabinet on Sunday that Israel may have to
dismantle some settlement outposts.
A review of Palestinian prisoner lists is to continue and
Israel is to release 100 security prisoners by the Wednesday
summit in Akaba between Israeli prime minister Sharon,
Palestinian prime minister Abbas and US President George W.
Bush.
Every prisoner would be required to sign a document saying
that he (or she) will not engage in terror.
Israeli officials said it is also likely that the declaration
to be issued at Wednesday's summit will include a timeline
for Israel's withdrawal from an area in the Gaza Strip which
will then fall under the full security control of PA.
Abbas said that Palestinian security forces would need "two
to three weeks" before they could take up security
responsibility in parts of the West Bank and Gaza. The first
withdrawal will take place in Gaza, one official said,
because the Palestinian security organizations there are
largely intact.
A group of US monitors are expected to remain in the region
after the summit. The size of this team, one Israeli official
said, will be relatively small, but may increase if
circumstances warrant it.
Abbas also said that he is close to reaching a cease-fire
deal with Hamas, and that he hopes to have this in hand
before Wednesday's summit.
Although Israel had for weeks said that it would not accept a
cease-fire (or what is called in Arabic a hudna) Abbas
is said to have told Sharon that the cease-fire would only be
the first phase of a crackdown. Afterward, the Palestinians
would collect illegal weapons and force the terrorist groups
to integrate into the Palestinian political system.
Sharon advisor Zalman Shoval said Sharon understands that
efforts to shut down the terrorist groups would have to start
with a cease-fire. But Shoval said that they understood that
the Palestinians were serious about fighting the terror.
Sharon told Abbas at the meeting that if the hudna is
a tactical measure then it is not Israel's concern. But if
the cease-fire is all Abbas does, then it will not work.
Among the other humanitarian gestures that Israel may take
before the Wednesday summit include:
* Increasing the transfers of Israeli-held Palestinian tax
funds to NIS 150 million per month.
* Increasing the number of travel permits for Palestinian
business people to 8,000.
* Taking measures to ease operations of the humanitarian
organizations in the territories.
US Assistant Secretary of State William Burns and Elliott
Abrams, who heads the Middle East desk at the National
Security Council, met separately Friday with Foreign Minister
Silvan Shalom and Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan
and on Saturday with Abbas and Shaath.
The US officials told both sides that Bush intends to set up
American-led groups to closely monitor the implementation of
the road map.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Friday that an all-
American team of experts was being assembled to monitor the
implementation of the road map.
President George W. Bush said over the weekend, "I will do
all that I can to help the parties reach agreement, and then
see that the agreement is enforced."
In an interview with the Al-Arabiya news channel of the
United Arab Emirates before he headed for Europe and then the
Middle East, Bush said he would look for support from Arab
leaders at the separate Arab summit in Egypt at Sharm e-
Sheikh this week to cut off financial support to terror
groups and to help ensure Israel's security.
I will remind everybody, Bush said, that in order for the
process to go forward, there must be an absolute determined
effort to fight off terror, to not allow the few to destroy
the process.
Bush reaffirmed that he would keep trying to isolate
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who was not invited to
either summit. The president said he had come to realize that
it was impossible to achieve peace with Chairman Arafat. He's
failed the Palestinian people in the past.
Israel has rejected an American suggestion that at the summit
in Akaba, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declare his aspiration
for an "end to occupation."
The U.S. has also asked Sharon to declare at the parley with
Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) and
President George W. Bush the evacuation of illegal outposts.
Israel objected, and it is not known at press time whether
the outposts will be mentioned in the closing statement.
The U.S. administration has asked that the Akaba summit end
with a joint Sharon-Abbas-Bush declaration, stating their
commitment to the political process and to implementing the
vision of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by
side in peace and security.
