statism watch

Ian Black, Nicholas Watt, Peter Walker, The Guardian
January 19, 2009

Troops pulling out ‘at greatest possible speed’ says Israeli PM – but Hamas threatens to start rearming immediately

Israel pulled out more troops and tanks from the Gaza Strip this morning in what the government said would be a swift withdrawal as long as the fragile truce holds.

Hamas followed Israel in agreeing a ceasefire yesterday, ending three weeks of heavy fighting in Gaza that left more than 1,200 Palestinians dead and much of the coastal territory in ruins.

Today, however, the group’s armed wing vowed to beginning rearming as soon as possible. “Manufacturing the holy weapons is our mission and we know how to acquire weapons,” Reuters reported Abu Ubaida as telling a news conference. If Israel failed to pull its troops out of Gaza within a week “all options would be open”, he said.

The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, indicated that his government wanted to get forces out of Gaza “at the greatest possible speed”.

His spokesman, Mark Regev, said that if Gaza remained quiet the withdrawal would be “almost immediate”. Other officials told Associated Press the plan was to get out before Barack Obama’s inauguration as US president tomorrow.

Israel has made it clear it remains ready to retaliate if provoked by Hamas. Seventeen rockets were fired into Israel yesterday, some of them after Hamas declared its ceasefire.

With the Palestinian death toll standing at more than 1,250 and rising as more bodies are found under the Gaza rubble, Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, said he was sending a humanitarian needs assessment team to compile a report within 10 days. Efforts to begin rebuilding Gaza’s shattered infrastructure began today with the opening of an economic conference in Kuwait, attended by representatives from more than 20 Arab countries. The summit is expected to approve an initial £1.3bn fund to assist the reconstruction.

News of the truce has galvanised international diplomatic activity. The Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, the chief Arab mediator, called a brief summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh yesterday. “We must secure the ceasefire and in the next phase make certain that Israeli forces withdraw from Gaza, the crossings are reopened and the siege is lifted,” he said.

Britain’s prime minister, Gordon Brown, announced a threefold rise in UK humanitarian aid to Gaza, pledging an additional £20m. He criticised Israel for using excessive force. “We are yet to discover the full scale of the appalling suffering,” he said. “But what is already clear is that too many innocent civilians, including hundreds of children, have been killed.”

The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, who has been working closely with the Egyptian president, said: “Israel should state immediately and clearly that if rocket fire will stop, the Israeli army will leave Gaza.”

Jordan’s King Abdullah, who like Mubarak has a peace treaty with Israel, said it was vital for the EU to coordinate with the incoming administration in the US to think of the “day after”.

“We need to find a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem immediately,” Abdullah said. “If we don’t do that, it will only be a matter of time before many world leaders will be meeting again and calling for a ceasefire in this region.” It was urgent to keep alive the Arab peace initiative offering Israel recognition if a Palestinian state were created, he said.

A spokeswoman for Obama said he welcomed the truce and would say more about the situation in Gaza after his inauguration.

After an hour of round-table talks and a chaotic press conference, Brown, Sarkozy, Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, and Mirek Topolánek, the prime minister of the Czech Republic, which holds the EU presidency, flew to Tel Aviv to meet Olmert, who expressed “deep remorse” last night for civilian casualties in Gaza.

Two crucial questions have to be settled if the ceasefire is to be followed by a return to calm. The first is how to stop weapons smuggling across the Egyptian border to Gaza’s Hamas rulers. Linked to that is the Hamas demand that the blockade of the coastal strip be lifted.

Amr Moussa, the secretary general of the Arab League, said the best way to stop smuggling through tunnels under the border was to open Gaza’s crossing points with Israel to allow in commercial goods.

Source | See Also: Hamas joins fragile Israeli ceasefire | Israel declares ceasefire | Unusually Large U.S. Weapons Shipment to Israel | Video shows proof of phosphorous bombs in Gaza | Aid destroyed as UN’s Gaza HQ hit by Israeli fire | Protests over Israel’s Gaza offensive held in Canadian, world cities | Israel ignores ceasefire plea, pounds Gaza | UN relief agency halts aid to Gaza, citing Israeli attacks on staff | Rockets fired from Lebanon hit northern Israel | Israel is on its way to reoccupying all of the Gaza Strip | Israeli shelling kills dozens at UN school in Gaza | Tanks, rockets, death and terror: Gazan civilian catastrophe unfolding | They hate us for our bombs | Israeli army set for invasion | Food, medicine, fuel needed in Gaza, agencies warn | Gaza relief boat carrying former Congresswoman rammed by Israelis | Worldwide protests urge end to attacks on Gaza

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