Egypt's Role in Gaza Pullout Criticized

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By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - An ally of Yasser Arafat (news - web sites) and Palestinian militants expressed dismay Tuesday over Egypt's plan to secure the Gaza Strip (news - web sites) after an Israeli withdrawal, saying they did not want outsiders to meddle in Palestinian affairs.

The harsh criticism of Egypt's proposed role came a day before Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman was to arrive for separate talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Also Tuesday, senior Israeli military officials said the Palestinian Authority (news - web sites) is making an effort to rein in militant groups, cutting them off from their funding and seeking to prevent attacks on Israelis.

Growing tensions between Egypt and the Palestinian Authority could undermine Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites)'s plan to withdraw from Gaza by the end of 2005.

U.S. ambassador Daniel Kurtzer said Tuesday that Israel must live up to promises to dismantle dozens of West Bank outposts and freeze settlement construction. "This is something that Israel undertook to do, and therefore, sure, we expect them to be fulfilled," Kurtzer told Israel Army Radio.

An Israeli official said Israel was trying to remove outposts, but was slowed by court appeals by settlers. Israel never stopped building in the older settlements, even after its acceptance last year of the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan, which calls for a halt to construction.

Sharon has decided to withdraw from all of Gaza, where 7,500 Israeli settlers live amid 1.3 million Palestinians, and from four isolated West Bank enclaves. He says such a unilateral move will improve Israel's security.

Saying the Palestinians are not reliable negotiating partners, Sharon has turned to Egypt, which borders Gaza, to help secure the area after the Israeli pullout.

Egypt has offered to send 200 military experts to Gaza to retrain Palestinian security forces. It also demands sweeping Palestinian security reforms, including merging 12 security branches into three, and wants Arafat to yield some of his powers.

Arafat has resisted reform demands, and analysts say he is trying to stall the Egyptians while avoiding a confrontation.

An Arafat ally, Sakher Habash, criticized the proposed Egyptian role. "We don't want to be cut off from Egypt, and at the same time we don't want Egyptian interference," said Habash, a member of the ruling Fatah (news - web sites) movement's Central Committee.

"As far as Fatah is concerned, demands that Arafat relinquish some of his powers are unacceptable and the Egyptians are well aware of this," he said. At best, Habash said, there would be increased cooperation between the security branches, but under Arafat's control.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath tried to soften some of the criticism. He said the Palestinian Authority is pleased with the Egyptian involvement and suggested that perhaps some people misunderstood the Egyptian role. "They are coming as advisers and as experts, not as rulers," Shaath said.

Shaath reiterated that Arafat has accepted the Egyptian security proposals in general, but gave no evidence that a plan had been prepared.

Arafat was to present a detailed plan on security reform to Suleiman on Wednesday. However, a program unveiled by one of the Gaza security chiefs, Maj. Gen. Abdel Razek Majaidie, made no reference to streamlining the security branches.

Majaidie said Tuesday that the Palestinian security forces are ready to take control of Gaza after an Israeli withdrawal, and that officers would be deployed in the vacated Israeli settlements.

Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, met late Monday, though it remained unclear whether the gathering took place in Beirut or Damascus.

In a statement, they indirectly criticized Egypt and Jordan, which is considering a security role in the West Bank.

"We express our dismay and surprise over a security role for certain Arab parties in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank," the statement said.

"Our people expect the Arab nation to act according to the logic of supporting the Palestinians and not the logic of 'security,'" it said. "This has flipped the situation, making the problem the Palestinian people, and not the Israeli occupation."

A Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Sami Abu Zohri, said Tuesday that the statement "focused on the reservations about a security role."

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said Palestinians will accept Egypt's security forces in Gaza.

"I know the Palestinian people appreciate the role played by Egypt (and) I don't believe any Palestinian can ever consider attacking any member of an Egyptian group that is going to be sent to Palestine," said Maher, who was attacked by Palestinian Islamic extremists when he visited Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque in December after talks with Sharon.

During a tour of a West Bak military base, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz was told by army officers said that Palestinian officials had stopped transferring funds to the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. The armed group, linked to Arafat's Fatah movement, has carried out dozens of deadly attacks on Israelis during the past four years.

Palestinians say the Palestinian Authority had never directly funded Al Aqsa activities anyway.

In new violence, Israeli troops killed two Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip. The army said it had fired at two gunmen who approached its soldiers.

Palestinian security forces confirmed the deaths, but had no information about their identities.