The Palestinian Authority, Hamas and Islamic Jihad have begun drafting an agreement on how to run jointly the Gaza Strip after an Israeli withdrawal, HA’ARETZ reported.
PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei confirmed that the document was being written, and added it would be completed after additional talks in Egypt. Qurei met today with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo to discuss the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Egypt is seeking assurances from Israel that it will halt all military strikes in Gaza well before the pullout, to enable Egypt to send military advisers there to train the Palestinian security forces. Egypt is also pressing PA Chairman Yasser Arafat to agree to security reform, including merging 12 security branches into three. Arafat has resisted reform in the past and has not given an unequivocal answer. Egypt is also trying to broker an agreement between the PA and rival factions – including the terror groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad – on how to run Gaza after a pullback. In the past, Hamas and Islamic Jihad have refused to join the PA. (BPI Information)
