It has been a quiet week so far in southwest Israel as the
deployment of Palestinian Authority police, with the
intensive negotiation efforts of Palestinian Authority
Chairman Mahmoud Abbas — with great rachamei
Shomayim — have produced several days of calm.
After beginning patrols in the north of the Gaza Strip, the
PA deployed its forces in the southern Gaza Strip near Rafah
and Khan Younis on Tuesday.
On Monday there were only a few cases of isolated gunfire and
no casualties. There were no Kassams and there was no mortar
fire.
Military sources said that Hamas and Islamic Jihad have
already ceased their fire, even though it is not yet
formalized with the PA. Prime Minister Sharon stresses
repeatedly that Israeli is not a party to any cease fire
agreement. It is wholly between the Palestinian groups
themselves.
Smaller groups such as the Popular Front and the Democratic
Front, Abu Rish's breakaway Fatah faction, and the Popular
Resistance Committees, which split from Fatah, are being
blamed for the few incidents that have taken place. Those
groups are apparently moving into areas where the better
known groups have ceased activity, and the shooting incidents
are seen as attempts to raise the price the PA will have to
pay for them to cease their own fire.
On Monday night there was Palestinian fire on Israeli cars
traveling on the Kissufim route in the Gaza Strip, but
boruch Hashem no one was injured.
There were a few incidents overnight Sunday as well,
including two incidents of gunfire.
Israeli leaders are waiting and watching. They have welcomed
the quiet, but have warned that progress must be made on
other fronts as well, including the incitement that takes
place in official PA media.
The weekly Cabinet meeting on Sunday was held in Sderot to
express solidarity with its residents and those of the Gaza
Strip, who have recently faced increased terrorist assaults.
The Cabinet met in the presence of Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal and
the members of the Sderot City Council, as well as the
chairmen of the regional councils from the area around the
Gaza Strip.
At the start of the meeting, Prime Minister Sharon said
praised Mayor Moyal and the residents for their fortitude
under fire.
Sderot Mayor Moyal commended the Government for holding the
weekly Cabinet meeting in Sderot in solidarity with its
residents. The chairmen of the Ashkelon Coast, Gaza Strip,
Shaar Hanegev, Sdot Hanegev and Eshkol Regional Councils also
expressed their gratitude to the Government for its recent
actions and also raised several issues.
IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Ya'alon briefed ministers
on security matters including the calm that has begun to
prevail in the area in recent days. He discussed the actions
that have been taken by the Palestinian Authority, including
the deployment of police personnel in the northern Gaza
Strip, in order to prevent the firing of Kassam rockets and
mortar shells at Sderot and nearby communities.
Elsewhere, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said
that he is close to sealing a cease-fire with militant
groups. "Differences have diminished and I hope that there
will be a final agreement very soon," Abbas said upon his
return to Ramallah on Monday after nearly a week of talks in
the Gaza Strip.
PA security sources said they had orders to use all means
necessary to stop militants from reaching the border areas
and from firing mortars or carrying out attacks.
US Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs William
Burns is scheduled to arrive Wednesday for his first visit
since the PA election.
Burns is likely to begin by ignoring an issue that is looming
on the way into the road map: How to convince Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon that a cessation of terror, even if it does not
include the physical dismantling of the terrorist
organizations, is sufficient PA implementation of its
commitments under the road map to warrant Israel to begin
implementing its steps.
While the road map calls for dismantling, Abbas has made
clear that he has no intention of doing this. Sharon has said
on numerous occasions that Israel's steps, dismantling
unauthorized settlement outposts and a settlement freeze,
will not be taken until the PA dismantles and disarms the
terrorist organizations.
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom is going to Washington
for meetings with Rice, expected to be confirmed as new
secretary of state by the end of the week, and her successor
as national security adviser, Stephen Hadley. Sharon's senior
adviser, Dov Weisglass, is also expected in Washington by the
end of the week.
Also on Wednesday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair's
primary foreign policy adviser is scheduled to arrive for
discussions on the international conference in London
expected to deal with preparing the PA for the day after
disengagement. That conference is scheduled for March 1.
