Preparing for a Hand-Over in Gaza

Israeli military commanders escorted Palestinian security officials on a tour of demolished Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip on Monday in preparation for the hand-over of settlement land later this month.

The tour, a rare direct encounter between senior military officials from the two sides, provided the Palestinian delegation with a first glimpse of the settlements since Israel evacuated about 8,500 settlers last month.

The visit was meant to help the Palestinians plan their own troop deployment when Israeli soldiers leave, as soon as next week. Palestinian Authority officials have expressed concern that uncontrollable crowds of curious Palestinians will surge in to see the former settlements, long sealed off to them.

Palestinian officials were able to maintain order during the evacuation of settlers by Israeli troops, but fears are growing that the hand-over of settlement land to Palestinian Authority control could catalyze unrest.

Underscoring those concerns, an enormous explosion late Monday ripped through the Gaza City neighborhood of Shajaiya, a stronghold of the militant Islamic group Hamas. Witnesses and Palestinian officials said a cache of explosives apparently went off by accident.

The blast, at a home belonging to relatives of a known Hamas militant, killed at least four people and injured more than two dozen others.

The Israeli army denied any connection to the incident.

Hamas has been aggressively claiming credit for the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, saying its campaign of suicide bombings and other attacks drove the Israeli army out.

Ordinary Palestinians are tantalized by the prospect of the settlement hand-over, even though many doubt it will do much to ease their daily hardships. Over a period that spanned more than three decades, the 21 Jewish settlements of Gaza grew to claim nearly one-fifth of the land in the densely populated seaside territory.

Israel surrounded the heavily guarded settlements with security zones Palestinians could be shot dead for entering, and built a network of army-patrolled roads for the settlers that were closed to Palestinian traffic.

The Israeli army declined to say which of the abandoned communities Israeli and Palestinian security officials visited during Monday’s tour but said several lay within what had been the main settlement block of Gush Katif. More such visits were planned in coming days, an army spokesman said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity.

The Israeli side was represented by high-ranking field officers, the army said. The Palestinian delegation included Brig. Gen. Jamal Kayed, the head of Palestinian security forces in southern Gaza, and Maj. Gen. Suleiman Hillis, who commands Palestinian forces in Gaza and the West Bank.

Palestinian officials welcomed the tour of the settlements but said they still had not been provided with full information about the remaining infrastructure, including the electricity and water grids. Israel was set to hand over detailed aerial maps of the communities, the army said.

The two sides, aided by international envoy James Wolfensohn, have also been trying to agree on who will guard the border between Gaza and Egypt. Israel has expressed willingness to leave the frontier corridor and hand over security responsibility to the Egyptians and the Palestinians, but several key sticking points remain.

A peaceful hand-over of the Gaza settlements and successful development of the reclaimed lands could strengthen the standing of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who is trying to contain infighting in his Fatah movement and curtail the influence of militant groups such as Hamas.

Conversely, an outbreak of chaos in Gaza could weaken Abbas in advance of a parliamentary election early next year, in which Hamas is fielding candidates for the first time.

Israel has completed the demolition of the settlers’ homes and has nearly finished emptying its military bases of equipment.

But an internal dispute has broken out in Israel over whether the Gaza synagogues should be destroyed to prevent their desecration. Some rabbis say this would be a grave violation of Halakha, or Jewish religious law. Israel’s Supreme Court is expected to rule on the issue within days.

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Special correspondent Fayed abu Shammalah in Gaza City contributed to this report.