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IDF Officer Discusses Disengagement with Arab Paper

(Ynet News) Roi Nahmias - A senior IDF officer told the London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat: "The disengagement plan talks about unilateral steps that would end in 2008, resulting in a situation where the Palestinians would be responsible for managing their own affairs within the boundaries of the area we can give them, and not more than that." "I won't get into the matter of borders at this time," he said. "However, it will not be an independent state as the Palestinians expect." "If the withdrawal will be executed peacefully and in an orderly manner, and the PA would prove it can run a law-abiding state in the Gaza Strip...the withdrawals would be accompanied by other moves towards a peace process and international aid." However, should Palestinian armed groups not be curbed, the PA would not get a thing and Israel would only act in a unilateral manner. The senior officer also had harsh words about the conduct of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas over his recent trip to Syria and meeting with terror leaders there. Abbas' actions indicate that the culture of terror still reigns in the PA, making peace talks at this time an unrealistic prospect, he said. The U.S. and several European governments are convinced Abbas is going in the wrong direction, he said.
2005-07-11 00:00:00
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