Israeli Withdrawal: When And If

Egypt will host talks between Yasser Arafat's government and various Palestinian factions, including Islamic militants, on how to control the Gaza Strip after a possible Israeli withdrawal, a senior Palestinian official said Friday.

Israel has suggested that if there is quiet in Gaza, it would begin negotiations with the Palestinian Authority on the fate of the West Bank, said Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a top Arafat adviser.

There have been signs of growing lawlessness in Gaza in recent weeks, with rival armed gangs and security forces battling for influence.

One thing that might calm the situation, Palestinian sources told Haaretz newspaper, would be if Israel were to allow Arafat free movement after the withdrawal between his headquarters in Ramallah on the West Bank and Gaza. He has been restricted to Ramallah since 2002.

U.S. envoys, meanwhile, shuttled between Israeli and Palestinian officials to press for details on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's proposal to withdraw from virtually all of Gaza and possibly parts of the West Bank.

Also Friday, an Israeli newspaper reported that in a meeting with a Jordanian delegation, Sharon was asked by the Jordanians to publicly retract his past declarations that Jordan is the authentic Palestinian state. A member of Sharon's cabinet told the Jerusalem Post that Sharon promised he would, at "an appropriate time and place."

Deputy Industry, Trade, and Labor Minister Michael Ratzon said Jordan is concerned that the disengagement plan and the security barrier might push more Palestinians into that country.

"If there's anything that worries the Jordanians more than Israel, it's the Palestinians, who make up a major segment of their own population," Ratzon told the paper.

Diplomatic activity surrounding Sharon's "disengagement" plan — which would include dismantling some Israeli settlements and imposing a boundary on the Palestinians — has picked up in recent weeks. U.S. officials have held separate talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials, both in Washington and the region.

Although presented as a unilateral withdrawal, Israel is seeking to coordinate with the United States and Egypt — and to a lesser extent with the Palestinians — to make sure "chaos and anarchy" do not prevail in Gaza, a senior Israeli official said on condition of anonymity.

A draft copy of a plan drawn up by Sharon's National Security Council proposes Israel withdraw from all but three of the 21 Gaza Strip settlements and from up to 24 West Bank communities. Israel has some 150 West Bank settlements.

When the Israelis do pull out, the Palestinians could be getting some prime real estate, reports CBS News Correspondent Robert Berger.

Israel intends to leave intact any Jewish settlements that are evacuated in the Gaza Strip. Israeli sources say the plan is to hand them to international mediators until their fate is determined. There had been speculation that Israel would demolish the settlements to prevent the spectacle of Palestinians celebrating and raising their flags on Jewish homes.

Israeli hawks, who oppose a Gaza withdrawal, say this would add insult to injury, reports Berger.

Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia will discuss the plan, the official said. A long-delayed summit is tentatively set for Tuesday, though there is no final agreement.

Abu Rdeneh said Egyptian-sponsored talks, which will include all the Palestinian factions, will be held in Cairo and the Palestinian territories. "The dialogue will focus on the aftermath of an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, how the Palestinians should run Gaza," Abu Rdeneh said.

The three visiting U.S. envoys — Undersecretary of State William Burns, Deputy Director of the National Security Council Stephen Hadley, and the council's Mideast specialist, Elliot Abrams — met Sharon and his top advisers for more than three hours on Thursday.

Israeli media reported that the United States is seeking a broad West Bank withdrawal. The draft plan outlines such a scenario, but says that in such a case the United States would have to recognize the redeployment as Israel's final borders.

The United States has not yet given its response to Sharon's plan. David Satterfield, a senior U.S. State Department official, said Thursday that Sharon's steps must be in line with the U.S.-backed "road map" plan and contribute to the creation of a Palestinian state.

Sharon's proposals "should move us toward that goal, not complicate it," Satterfield said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told Israel Radio, after meeting the U.S. envoys Friday, that Israel is seeking full U.S. support, not just "a nod of the head,"

The Jerusalem Post reported Sharon wants assurance the U.S. will support Israel's retention of three settlements and will help it win international support for the plan.

The U.S. team also met Palestinian Cabinet ministers Saeb Erekat and Salam Fayyad.

Erekat said the U.S. envoys did not provide details of the withdrawal plan, and but wanted to hear the views of the Palestinian Authority. "We stressed ... that this should be part of the road map and part of President Bush's vision of a two-state solution," Erekat said.

The road map envisions a Palestinian state by next year, as a result of negotiations. However, implementation has stalled since its launch last year.

Palestinians suspect Sharon is pushing his unilateral plan to avoid negotiations and to entrench Israel in large parts of the West Bank, preventing them from establishing a viable state.

At the end of the talks on Israel's proposal — which could include a third Israeli-U.S. round in Washington — the sides might formalize a written agreement, including details on Israel's withdrawal and U.S. guarantees, the Israeli official said.