EGYPT DEMANDS ARAFAT RESTORE ORDER BEFORE ISRAEL W

[Gość: AYSHA]

Suleiman, Arafat meet in Muqata headquarters

By Nadav Shragai, Arnon Regular and Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondents, and
The Associated Press

The Egyptian minister in charge of intelligence services, Omar Suleiman, met
Wednesday with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat in the leader's
Rammalah headquarters.




According to Palestinian sources, Suleiman told Arafat that Egypt would not
deploy policing forces along the strip of Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip,
known as the Philadelphi axis, before the Palestinian Authority assumed full
control of the Gaza Strip and confronted Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Fatah's
military wing in Gaza and the West Bank.


Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia on Wednesday denied reports that a
date had been set for him to meet Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in a long-
delayed summit.

"The date is not fixed yet. There will be a meeting between the delegations,"
Qureia said during a question-and-answer session following a Wednesday
afternoon lecture he gave at the Norwegian Nobel Institute.

The delegations, headed by the two prime ministers' bureau chiefs, Dov
Weisglass and Hassan Abu Libdeh, will meet next week.

Earlier Wednesday it was reported that Sharon had scheduled his first meeting
with his Palestinian counterpart for next Tuesday. Sharon's disengagement
plan was expected to be the main topic of the meeting.

Israel Radio on Wednesday quoted Libdeh as denying that a date for the the
meeting has been set. Libdeh said that the date would be decided only after
his meeting with Weisglass.

The United States, meanwhile, has "many questions" for Israel on the details
and impact of the disengagement plan, including how the Gaza Strip would be
administered following Israeli withdrawal, U.S. Secretary of State Colin
Powell said Tuesday.

Three ranking Bush administration officials are returning to Israel for the
second time in less than a month to sound out Sharon on Thursday on the Gaza
pullout plan: Assistant Secretary of State William Burns; Stephen Hadley,
deputy director of the National Security Council; and Elliot Abrams, a Middle
East specialist at the council.

Israeli sources say that Sharon is leaning toward a full pullout from the
Gaza Strip and a limited dismantling of settlements on the West Bank. Under
this scenario, the West Bank pullout would be carried out in stages until
the "maximum alternative" of withdrawal from 17 settlements has been
implemented.

Sharon is expected to make specific decisions about the disengagement plan
Wednesday so that he can present it to the U.S. officials Thursday. The prime
minister plans to meet with Shas chairman Eli Yishai on Wednesday to discuss
the possibility that the party will support the disengagement plan, Israel
Radio reported.

Sharon is expected to meet with Bush next month, but no date has been set by
either side.

National Union chairman Avigdor Lieberman told Army Radio on Wednesday that
his party won't leave the government even if Sharon presents his
disengagement plan to Bush.

"We will resign only if the government approves the plan, and the chances for
that are slim… there is a solid majority against the unilateral disengagement
plan," Lieberman told the radio.

The head of Egypt's intelligence services, Omar Suleiman met Palestinian
Chairman Yasser Arafat in Ramallah on Wednesday to discuss Sharon's
disengagement plan.

It was released Tuesday that Sharon and Omar held a secret meeting Monday to
discuss Sharon's intent to evacuate settlements from the Gaza Strip. The
meeting was held at Sharon's ranch in the Negev.

Suleiman, like Powell, was concerned with ensuring that any Gaza withdrawal
would be coordinated between Israel and the Palestinians. Suleiman has
recently held intensive meetings with Palestinian, Israeli and international
figures on the issue, and is meeting with Palestinian and Israeli officials
on the matter this week.

After some initial hesitation, the U.S. administration has warmed to the idea
of Israel's relinquishing control of Gaza and removing the 7,500 Jewish
Israelis who live in the predominantly Palestinian area. However, Secretary
of State Colin Powell said Tuesday, "There are many questions we want to pose
to our Israeli colleagues to make sure we have a good understanding of their
plans."

For one thing, the administration wants to be sure that Israel would
coordinate any withdrawal with the Palestinians. Powell said he also wanted
to know how Gaza would be administered after Israeli troops and settlers
departed. For instance, Powell asked during a joint news conference with
Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muashar, in Washington: "Will the
Palestinian Authority be prepared for the task of managing the region?"

Muashar said Tuesday that the Gaza pullout "might present an opportunity" if
Sharon coordinated his moves with the Palestinian Authority, and addressed
some of the issues that remain unresolved. "It's important to know whether
this will be a full withdrawal from Gaza or not, whether this will be in
connection with other withdrawals from the settlements in the West Bank,
whether this is going to be done in the context of the road map or as a
replacement for it," Muashar said at the joint news conference.

He said Israel ought to consult the European Union, the United Nations,
Russia and the United States, which jointly produced the road map or
blueprint for peacemaking with the Palestinians. The Jordanian minister said
peacemaking would help advance the democratic reform Bush has proposed for
the region. "Both efforts have to move in parallel," he said.

Suleiman to encourage Fatah to take over security in Gaza
In talks with Arafat and with senior PA officials, Suleiman was due to
encourage Fatah heads to assume responsibility for security in Gaza after an
Israeli pullout. The Egyptians are trying to forge an understanding between
Arafat and former PA security affairs minister, Mohammed Dahlan.

The Egyptians expect to learn from Israel details of Sharon's plan to
withdraw from the Gaza Strip. Suleiman will meet with Shin Bet security
service head Avi Dichter (who recently visited Cairo), and with Mossad chief
Meir Dagan.

On Thursday, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom will leave for Cairo to meet with
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Egypt wants Israel to coordinate a Gaza pullout with the PA leadership, so
that the PA can consolidate its position in the area in the future. Cairo
wants Sharon to establish direct contact with PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia.
So far, Sharon has not been inclined to do so.

It was reported Monday that Egypt is likely to demand that Israel revise
security arrangements incorporated in the peace agreement between the two
countries to allow it to beef up deployments on its side of the Gaza Strip
border should Israel withdraw from the Philadelphi seam area around Rafah.
The stepped-up deployment would provide security on the border and prevent
the smuggling of arms into the Gaza Strip.

As it stands, the peace agreement allows Egypt to deploy only police units
along the border. Under the terms of the agreement, these policemen are
allowed "to carry out regular police duties." A battalion from Fiji is also
deployed in the area as part of the international peacekeeping contingent
that monitors compliance with security terms of the Israel-Egypt agreement.

Egypt has decided to assist Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. The
Egyptians have no intention of deploying their own troops in the Gaza Strip;
Egyptians soldiers are to be deployed only on their own side of the border.

Egypt, however, wants to help Palestinian Authority officials in the security
sphere, and is prepared to help train Palestinian security personnel.