The Hindu : International : Israel, Palestinians move towards peace

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Saturday, Jan 22, 2005

International

International

Israel, Palestinians move towards peace

By Atul Aneja

MANAMA, JAN. 21. The Palestinian Authority has started deploying its forces in the northern Gaza strip to prevent militants from firing rockets at Israeli targets.

Hundreds of policemen were being positioned from today — the day marking Eid Al-Adha festivities. The exercise will be completed by Sunday.

Israel has also agreed to ease traffic restrictions on the main road running north-south through Gaza. On Thursday, it announced that the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt would be reopened in one direction on Friday.

The crossing has been closed since December 12, following a Palestinian attack on a nearby army outpost, which killed five soldiers. The prolonged closure had left thousands of Palestinians stranded on the other side.

Relative calm

The Israeli army on Thursday also reopened the Gush Katif junction in Gaza until 3 p.m. local time.

The junction was closed for 24 hours following a Palestinian attack there, in which an Israeli security officer was killed.

The implementation of reciprocal confidence building measures began following talks between the Palestinian security chief in Gaza, Musa Arafat, and Israeli security authorities. Mr. Arafat told the Associated Press news agency that the force deployment in the north would also be extended to the southern Gaza Strip.

His remarks came amid relative calm in Gaza on Thursday.

For the second day in a row, Palestinian militants did not fire rockets at Israeli targets. This was partly attributed to the unilateral deployment of Palestinian policemen in several cities and towns in Gaza where no agreement with the Israeli military was required.

Speaking after prayers in Gaza, where he has spent this week negotiating a possible ceasefire with militant groups, Mr. Abbas said Palestinians "believe in peace, and we believe in negotiations."

Israeli reaction to the Palestinian deployment was generally positive.

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