Israeli troops demolished the remaining military installations in the Gaza Strip yesterday, in final preparations for the pullout from the territory after 38 years of occupation.
The pullout was to be completed by Tuesday, and soldiers -- now left without bases and guard posts -- were to remain in armored vehicles until then. The head of Israel's forces in Gaza, Brigadier General Aviv Kochavi, will be the last soldier to leave the coastal strip and will lock the gate of the Kissufim border crossing in a small ceremony.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said yesterday that all Israeli soldiers should be out of Gaza by Monday, but that the pullout could be delayed by a day because of uncertainty over the fate of more than two dozen synagogues in Gaza's demolished Jewish settlements.
PHOTO: AP
The Israeli Cabinet is to decide tomorrow whether Israel will demolish the synagogues, or leave them intact, with the expectation the Palestinians will preserve them. Mofaz told Israel Army Radio yesterday that "it is very hard for me to give the army orders to destroy and blow up Jewish synagogues."
The Palestinians insist that Israel remove the synagogues. If Israel does raze the buildings, the pullout will be delayed by a day.
In Gaza City, former security chief Moussa Arafat, assassinated earlier this week by dozens of gunmen, was to be buried in a military funeral yesterday, with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attending. Arafat's eldest son, Manhal, was released early yesterday after being kidnapped by the killers of his father, a militant group known as the Popular Resistance Committees.
The killing was a major challenge to the Palestinian Authority just days before the Gaza handover. It underscored the weakness of Abbas and the unchecked power of armed gangs. In the case of Arafat, the Palestinian security forces negotiated with the killers for the release of the hostage, instead of arresting them.
The power struggle could spill over into planned victory marches. The Palestinian Authority insisted it would lead the celebrations, while the rival Hamas militant group planned its own military-style parades to underscore its claim that it drove Israel out with its bombing and shooting attacks.
As part of yesterday's last-minute preparations for the pullout, Israel demolished a bridge leading to the now abandoned Jewish settlements and a liaison office at the main Israel-Gaza crossing point. By the end of the day, the army planned to have all its equipment out of the Gaza Strip.
Also yesterday, the outgoing US ambassador to Israel, Dan Kurtzer, said that Washington expects Israel to dismantle unauthorized West Bank settlement outposts, in line with its obligations under the US-backed road map peace plan. "We still expect as a country that Israel is going to fill its commitment," Kurtzer told Israel Radio.
Kurtzer, who is wrapping up a four-year term, noted that Israel has promised in writing to take down the outposts set up by settlers, in large part with government funding. "We have no reason to believe that Israel will try to evade its responsibility," Kurtzer said.
An Israeli Foreign Ministry official, meanwhile, said Israel has set aside plans to ask Washington for US$2 billion in aid for its Gaza withdrawal while the US is busy dealing with the destruction wreaked by Hurricane Katrina.
A high-level Israeli delegation that was to discuss the aid with US officials has postponed a trip to Washington, said the spokesman, Mark Regev. "The issue [of US aid] is not on the table at the moment," Regev said. "Everyone's dealing with Katrina."
Kurtzer hinted it would be wise for Israel to hold off on pursuing its aid request.
"The [Israeli] government may or may not decide to pursue it right now in view of the fact that the costs to the American taxpayer of Katrina are likely to be enormous in the period ahead," Kurtzer said.
REBUILDING: A researcher said that it might seem counterintuitive to start talking about reconstruction amid the war with Russia, but it is ‘actually an urgent priority’ Italy is hosting the fourth annual conference on rebuilding Ukraine even as Russia escalates its war, inviting political and business leaders to Rome to promote public-private partnerships on defense, mining, energy and other projects as uncertainty grows about the US’ commitment to Kyiv’s defense. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy were opening the meeting yesterday, which gets under way as Russia accelerated its aerial and ground attacks against Ukraine with another night of pounding missile and drone attacks on Kyiv. Italian organizers said that 100 official delegations were attending, as were 40 international organizations and development banks. There are
The tale of a middle-aged Chinese man, or “uncle,” who disguised himself as a woman to secretly film and share videos of his hookups with more than 1,000 men shook China’s social media, spurring fears for public health, privacy and marital fidelity. The hashtag “red uncle” was the top trending item on China’s popular microblog Sina Weibo yesterday, drawing at least 200 million views as users expressed incredulity and shock. The online posts told of how the man in the eastern city of Nanjing had lured 1,691 heterosexual men into sexual encounters at his home that he then recorded and distributed online. The
TARIFF ACTION: The US embassy said that the ‘political persecution’ against former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro disrespects the democratic traditions of the nation The US and Brazil on Wednesday escalated their row over US President Donald Trump’s support for former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, with Washington slapping a 50 percent tariff on one of its main steel suppliers. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva threatened to reciprocate. Trump has criticized the prosecution of Bolsonaro, who is on trial for allegedly plotting to cling on to power after losing 2022 elections to Lula. Brasilia on Wednesday summoned Washington’s top envoy to the country to explain an embassy statement describing Bolsonaro as a victim of “political persecution” — echoing Trump’s description of the treatment of Bolsonaro as
CEREMONY EXPECTED: Abdullah Ocalan said he believes in the power of politics and social peace, not weapons, and called on the group to put that into practice The jailed leader of a Kurdish militant group yesterday renewed a call for his fighters to lay down their arms, days before a symbolic disarmament ceremony is expected to take place as a first concrete step in a peace process with the Turkish state. In a seven-minute video message broadcast on pro-Kurdish Medya Haber’s YouTube channel, Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), said that the peace initiative had reached a stage that required practical steps. “It should be considered natural for you to publicly ensure the disarmament of the relevant groups in a way that addresses the expectations
RSS