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Israel scales back Gaza Strip offensive

Posted on: Sunday, 2 October 2005, 03:21 CDT

By Matthew Tostevin

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel has scaled back an offensive against Gaza Strip militants to give Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a chance to stop rocket fire from the territory, Israeli security sources said on Sunday.

A surge of violence last month has damaged hopes that Israel's withdrawal of troops and settlers from Gaza to end 38 years of military rule on September 12 might help revive negotiations on ending decades of conflict.

Israeli planes and artillery struck at Gaza following cross-border rocket attacks. Four Gaza militants were killed.

Israeli forces also raided the West Bank to arrest hundreds of suspected militants. Five gunmen and a teenager were killed there.

"We are going to suspend for a while some of the larger scope operations and wait to see the response," said one senior Israeli security source. "We want to give the Palestinian security forces and Abu Mazen (Abbas) an opportunity."

The sources said Israel would only act against what it calls "ticking bombs" -- when it suspects someone is about to carry out an attack -- or if there is a resumption of rocket fire from Gaza.

Abbas, also under U.S. pressure to bring militants under control, began deploying forces late last week to stop fighters from carrying weapons on Gaza streets and to prevent attacks on Israel.

There has been no rocket fire for at least four days.

WELCOMED

Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat welcomed the Israeli decision to scale back the offensive.

"We are committed to stop violence against the Israelis anywhere," he told Reuters. "We hope that the Israeli announcement today will reflect an Israeli commitment to stop violence against Palestinians everywhere."

The powerful Islamic militant faction Hamas, sworn to destroying the Jewish state, said it did not trust Israel to end "aggressive practices" on the ground.

But Hamas has reaffirmed its commitment to a February truce that smoothed Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and has been largely popular with Palestinians. A new opinion poll showed that 62 percent of Palestinians opposed launching attacks from Gaza.

Abbas is due to visit Washington this month to discuss ways of pushing forward with a U.S.-backed "road map" for peace following Israel's Gaza pullout.

Israel insists that Abbas dismantles militant groups such as Hamas -- a process that the Palestinians are meant to begin under the road map -- before there can be new talks on Palestinian statehood.

Israel has failed to meet its own road map commitment to freeze settlement building in the West Bank, strengthening Palestinian fears that the Gaza withdrawal plan was an Israeli ruse to strengthen its hold on the West Bank.

Palestinians want a state made up of the Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem, all captured by Israel in the 1967 war.

(Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah)

Source: REUTERS

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