The Palestinian Authority has presented a plan to American and Israeli officials for coordinating the planed pullout from inside the Gaza Strip and four small settlements in the northern West Bank.
An Israeli source involved in the contacts with PA officials said on Wednesday that the PA proposes the handover of overall security responsibility in the areas slated for evacuation to the PA’s National Security force, a complete cease-fire during the evacuation process, and a Palestinian commitment to take all necessary steps to prevent shooting at Israeli targets outside the Gaza Strip.
Yet, the PA conditions the plan on Israeli help in equipping the PA Gaza security forces with weapons and other necessary military equipment.
The PA say that during the conflict with the Israelis over the last four years, the PA security services lost their combat capabilities and that the armed organizations in the Gaza Strip have far more weapons than the forces under the authority of the PA.
