The Jerusalem Post reports the transfer of control to the PA in five West Bank cities could begin as early as February 2. It would affect the cities of Ramallah, Tulkarem, Qalqilya, Jericho, and possibly Bethlehem. It would also include the shutting down of a number of Israeli army checkpoints in roads around those population centers.

On the same day as the defense minister’s announcement, a rightist demonstration in Jerusalem against the Sharon government’s moves to pull 21 Israeli settlements out of Gaza and 4 from the West Bank drew more than 100,000 people. It was one of the largest such mobilizations to date against Tel Aviv’s “disengagement plan.” Despite such actions, there is no indication that the Israeli regime is backing down from its course of pulling settlements out of Gaza in order to consolidate control of the largest settlement blocs in the West Bank.

In addition, Tel Aviv is turning over patrols of much of the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian police. The Israeli government is also discussing releasing hundreds of the 8,000 Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli jails in the lead-up to talks between PA president Mahmoud Abbas and Sharon, which are set to take place around February 8.

“We are discussing with the Palestinian Authority all the issues which have to do with security coordination and the transfer of responsibility in the sense that the Palestinians will now fight against the terror and prevent it,” Mofaz told Israel Radio January 30. “We talked about handing over responsibility, as has started in the Gaza Strip. We believe that in the next few days, they will get responsibility over other towns in the West Bank.”

“The conditions have been created that will enable us and the Palestinians to reach a historic breakthrough in our relations,” Sharon said in a January 27 speech. “We are following with great interest the recent developments in the Palestinian Authority and it is apparent that there is a positive approach to the fight against terrorism and to the furthering of the diplomatic process.”

Sharon added, “If the Palestinians take extensive action to end terrorism, violence and incitement, we will be able to proceed in our contacts for the implementation of the road map and it is even possible to coordinate a variety of actions regarding the disengagement plan.”

On January 21, the Palestinian Authority began deploying thousands of police in towns throughout the Gaza Strip to stop armed attacks from Palestinian groups on Israeli towns and settlements. According to Mofaz, since the deployment such attacks have been reduced by 75 percent in Gaza.

These moves are a continuation of the course the Palestinian leadership embarked upon with the signing of the Oslo “peace accord” in 1993. Recognizing that it could not defeat the Palestinian people’s determination to fight for their homeland, Tel Aviv began working with the Palestinian Liberation Organization leadership to establish an apparatus that would aim to quell popular resistance to the theft of most Palestinian lands by the Israeli state in exchange for limited autonomy in the occupied territories.

Washington has played a central role in crafting this course. According to the January 30 issue of the Israeli daily Haaretz, the head of Israel’s spy agency met with U.S. Central Intelligence Agency chief Porter Goss recently to discuss resuming direct “security” collaboration between the PA police and the Israeli secret services. The CIA played the role of go-between for the Israeli and Palestinian police agencies following the Oslo agreement. That arrangement disintegrated during the four-year long second Palestinian intifada, or uprising.

Tel Aviv has shown no sign of backing away from removing the security headache that its Gaza settlements pose. The small settler population sits on 20 percent of the territory. The remaining 80 percent of Gaza is home to 1.3 million Palestinians. It is one of the most densely populated areas of the world.

The conditions facing the majority in Gaza—compared to the relatively affluent lifestyles of Palestinian Authority leaders—have left the ruling Fatah party with a shrinking base in the region. In the initial round of municipal elections in Gaza January 27, Hamas, a Palestinian group that advocates the replacement of Israel with an Islamic republic, captured 77 of the 118 seats and 7 of 10 municipal councils. Fatah won only 26 seats. This round of elections did not include Gaza’s major cities or refugee camps; the largest municipality was the central Gaza city of Deir al Balah, with a population of 60,000.

Hamas has led the armed campaign of suicide bombings and other attacks primarily targeting Israeli civilians in the last four years. It has been the main target of the Israeli rulers murderous offensive and many of its leaders have fallen victim to Israel’s targeted assassinations.

The municipal elections drew a significantly larger percentage of voters to the polls than the January 9 vote that put Abbas in office. Eligible voter turnout in the presidential election was around 48 percent. The turnout in the local vote in Gaza, the Palestinian minister for local government said, was more than 85 percent. Hamas had called for a boycott of the presidential elections.

At the same time, Hamas leaders have shown an eagerness to work with Abbas towards a cease-fire with Tel Aviv. According to Haaretz, an agreement has been reached in principle between Hamas in Gaza and the PA president on the organization’s involvement in diplomatic decision-making and a future Palestinian government.

According to the daily, “Hamas has agreed to accept the principle of a Palestinian state with the 1967 borders and its capital in Jerusalem as a basis for talks with Israel. Until now, Hamas has always defined Israel, even in its pre-1967 borders, as ‘waqf land that must be liberated.’ A waqf is a Muslim religious trust.”  
 
 
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