Signaling a possible shift in Israeli policy, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom has said that if the new Palestinian leadership fights against terrorism, Israel will agree to conduct negotiations over coordinated implementation of the disengagement plan. Shalom?s remarks, in a speech to the General Assembly of North American Jewish communities meeting in Cleveland, Ohio, were the first by an Israeli official to raise the possibility of turning the plan for a unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and scattered West Bank settlements into a disengagement undertaken in consultation with the Palestinians.? In the coming days, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is expected to head talks leading to the formation of new guidelines for Israeli diplomacy, after several bodies ordered to provide recommendations on matters relating to the Palestinians are to complete their work. Israel’s National Security Council, for instance, is preparing a program to turn the pullout plan into a process that would be coordinated with the newly emerging Palestinian leadership. The United States is also talking to Israel about steps that would make it easier for the Palestinians to hold elections, officials said. Shalom is to meet with Secretary of State Colin Powell in Washington on Monday. In the Sunday speech, Shalom warned that Israel would be strict in judging whether the PA had taken actual steps against terrorism. ?The possibility of change on the Palestinian side is not enough. We need to see a change on the ground.? ?We will continue to stress our hope and our demand that whoever leads the Palestinians will lead them away from terror and towards a better future for us both,? Shalom said. Israel is formulating a new diplomatic policy for the post-Arafat era, which may include a coordinated, rather than unilateral, disengagement from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank. Foreign help for PA elections The Bush administration and European allies are preparing to help the Palestinian Authority organize January elections and improve its security forces to crack down on terrorism, U.S. officials and diplomats said on Sunday.
The PA will hold elections for a new chairman by January 9, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia said. Contrary to rumors, the Fatah central committee did not name former Palestinian prime minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) as its candidate for chairman of the Palestinian Authority, to replace the late Yasser Arafat. „I made no announcement and the matter is still being discussed,” Abbas said Sunday night. Palestinian sources said Sunday that Fatah had not yet selected its candidate. Meanwhile, diplomatic sources noted that there are already contacts being made between Israel and the Palestinians regarding disengagement. These contacts are on a working level between the government’s coordinator of activities in the territories, the Finance Ministry, the Industry and Trade Ministry and other government ministries. Diplomatic sources said that if effective rule is established in the Palestinian Authority, Israel will also examine the possibility of withdrawing Israel Defense Forces troops from the Philadelphi Route on Gaza’s southern border with Egypt. Responsibility for this narrow zone would be transferred to joint Egyptian-Palestinian control. Israel believes a stable Palestinian leadership that is able to control the Gaza Strip will ease Israel’s withdrawal from the Philadelphi Route. Sharon also wants a withdrawal from the border route in order to head off claims that Israel continues to hold responsibility for the Gaza Strip. The defense establishment also continues to formulate proposed gestures that could be made to the Palestinians should they make security changes. Proposed gestures include allowing PA security officers in the West Bank to carry weapons, a withdrawal of IDF forces from city centers, an abstention from offensive military operations and releasing Palestinian prisoners.
