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The summit between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday is believed to bring closer coordination on Israel's pullout from Gaza despite lingering differences on issues like curbing Palestinian militants, analysts said.
The summit, which was the first of its kind in Jerusalem, came amid a new wave of violence and Israeli threatening of exercising no restraint with regard to the Islamic Jihad (Holy War) which claimed responsibility for the recent spate of attacks on Israeli targets.
With the pullout from Gaza only two months away, Sharon's top priority of the meeting was to seek assurances that the coming Israeli evacuation would proceed smoothly with no Palestinian fire.
Sharon said after the summit that he and Abbas "agreed during the meeting on full coordination of our exit from Gaza."
"There will be no pullout under fire. We will not stop the pullout. We will stop the terrorism," he added.
According to Israeli sources, Sharon told Abbas that "terrorism" weakens the Israeli public's support for the disengagement plan.
Meanwhile, Sharon made some concessions for the sake of Palestinian's commitment on the withdrawal, announcing that Israel would hand over the West Bank cities of Bethlehem and Qalqilyah to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) within two weeks on condition that the PNA reined in militants.
Israel has already transferred Jericho and Tulkarm, another two West Bank cities to the PNA in accordance with agreements the two sides reached during the Feb. 8 summit.
Sharon also told Abbas to begin preparations for re-opening the Gaza airport and seaports which were closed down by Israeli troops when the Palestinian uprising broke out in 2000.
He also promised that Israel would allow a number of Palestinian deportees in Gaza to return to their homes in the West Bank and would consider the release of more Palestinian prisoners.
All the concessions, however, were contingent on the Palestinian side acting to clamp down on militants to guarantee a smooth and peaceful pullout from Gaza, Sharon added.
Sticking point
In light of the recent wave of attacks, analysts said there is virtually no chance that Sharon will accede to Abbas's request for additional Israeli steps to ease the Palestinians' daily life in the occupied territories.
The bigger issues of peace and statehood are likely to remain on hold until after Israel completes its evacuation, though Palestinians want assurances that the settlement expansion can be stopped in the West Bank and more Palestinian prisoners can be released, some said.
The words were proved true as Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei said the meeting did not "live up to our expectations."
Terming it "a difficult meeting," Qurei said Abbas and the Palestinian side presented at the meeting a package of important issues, including the settlement expansion and the issue of Palestinian prisoners.
However, Sharon stuck to his position that it was not the time to discuss the diplomatic moves that should come after the disengagement.
Analysts said Sharon will demand that Abbas confiscate weapons from militants and prevent the launching of Qassam rockets into southern Israel and the Gaza settlements till the evacuation before making any progress toward peace.
Abbas has preferred persuasion over confrontation in swaying his main rival, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), a strategy Israel denounces as naive and destined to fail.
"We know our conditions, we know our domestic realities and we know the best way of achieving a cessation of violence," said Palestinian lawmaker Hanan Ashrawi.
"Because if you start cracking down, imprisoning, shooting and killing, then you end up with a civil war," he added.
Commenting on the summit, Israeli political analyst Yossi Alpher said, "The Americans insisted this happen, so Sharon was doing it. I don't think the reality will be very different after the meeting."
The summit was overshadowed by a new spate of violence. On Monday, Jihad militants ambushed an Israeli minivan in the northern West Bank, killing one Israeli civilian and wounding another.
Israeli soldiers, meanwhile, killed a Palestinian and wounded another as they tried to break through a Gaza fence into Israel.
(Xinhua News Agency June 22, 2005)
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