By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
Aug 15, 2005
Gaza won't be the last part of the Jews' ancient homeland Israel is forced to surrender to Arab Muslim control, according to promises the Bush Administration reportedly made to the Palestinian Authority.
PA National Security Advisor Jibril Rajoub said the Palestinian Arabs had feared Israel's Gaza pullout was a ploy to strengthen its hold over Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem.
But those fears were laid to rest by the Americans, Rajoub said in an interview with the London-based Arabic newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat.
?We received calming messages from the US during the American-Palestinian summit, as well as during Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to the region,? said the formerly-wanted terror boss.
?The international community and the United States are convinced that the Road Map plan? should now be implemented, said Rajoub. The Road Map calls for a series of Israeli withdrawals leading to the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state within months.
Washington has shown no serious intention of holding the PA to its Road Map obligations of disarming and dismantling anti-Jewish terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Instead, the US has largely turned a blind eye to PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas' invitation for the terrorists to join his regime while remaining fully armed.
Rajoub also pointed out that during her visit to the region last month, Rice had backed geographical connectivity between Gaza and PA-controlled Judea, a move that would effectively cut Israel in two.
For now, however, he said the top priority would be bringing some 400,000 Palestinian Arab ?refugees? from Lebanon to the Gaza Strip.
Many of those refugees belong to armed terror gangs the PA hopes to use to bolster its own forces.
They will also pose a direct security threat to Israelis living in the vicinity of Gaza.