Pullout to take four weeks
Planned withdrawal from Gaza to take three weeks and pullout from four West Bank settlements to last one week, security heads tell Sharon as they wrap up details on upcoming disengagement
TEL AVIV - Israel's planned pullout from Gaza and the northern West Bank will take no less than four weeks to complete, security chiefs told Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, adding that about 55,000 troops would participate in the withdrawal next month, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported on Monday.
Sharon met with military and police commanders on Sunday to wrap up last-minute detail regarding the procedure for the pullout plan, which is set to start in mid-August. Israel plans to evacuate all 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and four of the 120 in the West Bank.
The IDF will allocate three weeks to evacuate the Gaza settlements and an additional week to clear the ones in the West Bank. The withdrawal will be carried out day and night, security chiefs said.
Some 55,000 IDF troops will participate in the pullout and another 10,000 reserve soldiers will be recruited to replace them in their usual duties, they told Sharon.
The pullout is scheduled to be completed by October 3, the eve of Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year), and the evacuated territories would be handed over to the Palestinian Authority.
IDF officers and Palestinian security force officials have agreed that about 5,000 Palestinian soldiers will be deployed in the area during the withdrawal to form an "obstruction wall" on the Palestinian side in a bid to prevent terror cells from attacking settlements.
Army Chief Lt-General Dan Halutz said more than 70 percent of all 9,000 settlers slated for evacuation in Gaza would voluntarily evacuate from their homes until August 15.
Dozens have already left their homes in the northern West Bank.
Right-wing infiltrators
Police Chief Moshe Karadi said that over the past week some 1,000 people have managed to infiltrate into the Gaza settlement bloc of Gush Katif, after settlers have requested entry permits for guests already residing in Gaza, which was declared a closed military zone last month.
Dan Harel told the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the number of Jewish infiltrators into Gaza was double that number.
Police officials estimate that between 9,000-10,000 settlers currently live in Gush Katif, with only 30 percent constituting the radical right-wing "problematic" population that has in recent weeks clashed with forces and vowed to resist the pullout.
The Defense Ministry plans to send in tractors and bulldozers 24 hours after the withdrawal to destroy the houses and public structures left behind by the settlers .
Once the pullout is complete, the Palestinians will be allowed to enter the area to collect the rubble and clear away the debris, an idea they have criticized.
However, each individual procedure can only be carried out with ministerial approval. Sources close to Sharon said the government plans to hold a series of meetings during the evacuation in order to obtain the official permits.
