Nazir Majally, Asharq Al-Awsat

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 14 January 2004 — Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon hinted that Israel might pull out of the Gaza Strip, another sliver of information about his mostly undisclosed plans for unilateral moves if peace talks break down.

A day earlier, Sharon pledged to bring such moves to a Parliament vote after consulting his coalition partners and international allies — a way of giving hard-line parties a possible veto over evacuating Jewish settlements.

Visiting the Bedouin town of Segev Shalom in the southern Negev desert, Sharon welcomed Bedouin soldiers who had served in the Gaza Strip. “I hope that the day will come when we won’t have to be in the (Gaza) Strip and you will really be free to do things that are more important.”

About 7,000 Israelis live in 17 settlements in the Gaza Strip among more than 1 million Palestinians. Several of the settlements are isolated in heavily populated areas and are considered prime objects for removal under any redeployment plan.

Sharon has said that if talks on the US-backed road map peace plan do not progress in the coming months, he would order unilateral steps to disengage from the Palestinians, including imposing a temporary border with the West Bank and moving some Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza.

However, Sharon has not given specific details of his plan, saying that it is still being prepared. He appointed Maj. Gen. Giora Eiland, the incoming head of his security council, to direct the planning.

Israeli President Moshe Katsav yesterday offered Syria peace negotiations in “secret or public, anywhere and without pre-conditions,” in an interview with Qatar’s Al-Jazeera television.

“President Moshe Katsav renewed his proposition to Syrian President Bashar Assad to start direct negotiations with Israel, in secret or public, anywhere and without preconditions,” the satellite channel said on its website aljazeera.net.

Meanwhile, hit by waning support from fatigued donor nations, the Palestinian Authority has been forced to borrow from banks to pay salaries to its 125,000 employees, and may be unable to meet the February payroll, the economy minister said.

With unemployment rampant outside the public payroll, Palestinians could be facing unprecedented economic collapse after three years of relentless conflict with Israel.

“We took loans from the bank for the past couple of months to pay salaries,” Palestinian Economy Minister Maher Masri said. “If this situation continues ... we will not be able to provide salaries next month.”

Masri did not disclose the size of the loans, but figures are likely to be made public when Palestinian Finance Minister Salam Fayad presents the 2004 budget to Parliament next week.

Violence continued yesterday. An Israeli was shot dead in a West Bank ambush, and a Palestinian was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip. After nightfall, Palestinians opened fire on an Israeli vehicle at the entrance to the settlement of Talmon, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, killing one Israeli and wounding two others, the military said. The Israeli was the first to die in a Palestinian attack this year.

In the West Bank town of Baka Al-Sharkia, a Palestinian man killed his brother and his father in a family feud over the brother’s suspected role as an informant for Israeli security forces, Israeli police said.

In the southern Gaza Strip, Israeli troops killed a Palestinian who opened fire on them, the army said, while in the West Bank, Israeli troops conducted house-to-house searches in the Tulkarm refugee camp for a second day.