By Yasser Al Banna & Ibrahim Abdullah, IOL Correspondents

GAZA CITY, May 31 (IslamOnline.net) – Palestinian resistance factions voiced reservations about the reported Egyptian security role after a possible unilateral Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

"We want this role to support our cause, and spring rather from a feeling of responsibility towards our people, … not to be dedicated to the protection of Israeli forces," Khedr Habib, the spokesman for the Islamic Jihad, told IslamOnline.net Sunday, May 30.

Habib implicitly questioned Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's statements Saturday, May 29, that he (Mubarak) is willing to send "Egyptian security experts" to Palestinian territories after the Israeli army pullout at Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's request.

"Our people will not accept this move, if it comes to provide security to the enemy. They will look at it with suspicion," he said.

Mubarak has said Sharon asked for Egypt's help "to maintain security in the strip", a few weeks after the Egyptian leader warned that "radicals could take over" if the unilateral withdrawal came with no consultation with the Palestinians.

"All Palestinian and Arab forces should not be duped by Sharon's unilateral plan. Rather, Palestinians should be protected instead of propagating for the plan," said Sami Abu Zahri, Hamas spokesman.

"Our people are the ones who have the final say regarding issues related to them. And this is clear to all Arab parties," said Abu Zahri told IOL.

Abu Zahri believed Israeli official statements on the plan are rather designated to buy them time and "mislead the regional and international public opinion as the policy of aggressions and destruction still goes on".

The Israeli army has launched a massive offensive on Rafah, a southern Gaza Strip city not far from borders with Egypt, killing 62 Palestinians and driving 2000 residents homeless after 155 houses were flattened.

Not 'Appropriate'

Kayyed Al-Ghoul, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine politburo, welcomed any effort to end Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands.

But the security intervention is not "the appropriate gateway", Al-Ghoul told IOL.

"We expect from Arab brethren seeking out a political process that obliges Israel to pull out from occupied territories, not allowing Sharon to retract any such commitment in the name of a security rather than a political plan."

Al-Ghoul affirmed that there are Egyptian-Palestinian differences over Cairo's assurances that it would help rehabilitating security bodies and not play a direct security role.

Saleh Zeidan of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine said that talk about an Egyptian role is "premature", as the withdrawal plan has not yet been approved by the Israeli cabinet.

"We should be reassured that the role of security bodies is the protection of the homeland and its people as well as respecting the rule of law."

"We have to avoid Sharon's trap meant to trigger Palestinian infighting, by boosting Palestinian-Palestinian dialogue."

Sharon tried to push forward his Gaza withdrawal plan during a tense seven-hour meeting of his divided Cabinet Sunday.

But the meeting ended without a vote, and there was even growing uncertainty over the fate of Sharon's government. The plan might come up for a vote at next Sunday's Cabinet meeting, but even that is uncertain, Justice Minister Yosef Lapid said.

Welcomed

The Palestinian Authority, for its part, welcomed the Egyptian proposed security role, saying that Cairo has much concern about its eastern borders.

"We have expressed appreciation for any Egyptian role in the Gaza Strip," Palestinian agriculture minister, Ibrahim Abul Naga told IOL over the phone.

Abul Naga noted that Egypt had trained Palestinian security bodies and other institutions and that "Egypt is ready to complete this role".

Declining to give details of the security contribution, the Palestinian official said there is a "Palestinian-Egyptian coordination" in this regard.

"It will not be unveiled as it's connected with an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip first."

Quoting a Palestinian Authority source, Israeli daily Ha'aretz said Sunday that the Egyptian security presence will not take the form of military forces.

"There will be some 40 experts. Their presence will not go beyond dozens in number," the Israeli daily quoted Hanna Omeira, a member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).

But the paper admitted that the security role had provoked a wide debate over the conditions and circumstances under which Palestinians will give a nod to the move.

An Israeli news website said that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah group will hold talks with other Palestinian factions to probe incorporating them into the Palestinian Authority, with Egyptian and Syrian mediation.

The website said Egypt had invited Hamas and Islamic Jihad for a dialogue in Cairo to discuss the proposition, citing Palestinian parliament member Zeyyad Abu Omar.

"The talks will begin soon," Omar said, with no further details.