Suleiman shakes hands with Arafat (AFP)

GAZA CITY, June 23 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Egypt wants an Israeli commitment to cease military operations in the Gaza Strip before sending security advisors to help maintain security after the Israeli withdrawal, a condition likely to be opposed by Tel Aviv, Israeli media reported Wednesday, June 23.

Haaretz said the issue will raised by Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman during his meetings later Wednesday with top Israeli officials, including the defense and foreign ministers as well as Mossad chief.

Suleiman held talks earlier with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, Premier Ahmed Qorei and national security advisor Jibril Rajub in Arafat's West Bank headquarters, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said after Suleiman began talks with Arafat that an Egyptian role depended on an Israeli commitment to a full ceasefire.

"Egypt will not take the risk of having been in Gaza and seeing Israeli planes shoot and kill and destroy while its forces are in Gaza. It will not be engaged in any fight with Israelis and also will not be engaged in any fight with the Palestinians," he said.

"And I think these are conditions that we like and expect actually, as part of my glimmer of hope psychology."

The Egyptian plan also stipulates deploying international forces at Gaza port and airport after the Israeli withdrawal, Haaretz said.

"A multi-national force will take security responsibility of the airport and the port, and operate along with Palestinian security forces to ensure that Israel cannot argue that there is no control of these sensitive sites," it reported quoting a senior Egyptian source.

Cairo has offered to send up to 200 personnel to Gaza, which was under Egyptian administration before Israel occupied after the 1967 war, to train a 30,000-strong Palestinian security force to maintain security after the Israeli withdrawal.

Opposed

A senior diplomatic source in occupied Jerusalem said Israel is opposed to a cessation of military operations in the Gaza Strip following its planned withdrawal.

"We will not agree to any such conditions. If terrorism continues in the Gaza Strip, we will continue operating there and will not tie our hands," the source told Haartez Wednesday.

The same source, however, believed a solution will be found to the disagreement.

"We believe that we will find a formula that will enable us to work in cooperation with Egypt."

One possible option is to identify specific areas in the Gaza Strip where the Egyptian advisers will operate and in places where the Israeli forces will not take any action without prior coordination, the Israeli daily said.

No Mediation

In the meantime, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he does not intend to allow Egypt to mediate between Israel and the Palestinians before his unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Sharon made the comments during talks with Mofaz and Shalom ahead of their meeting with the Egyptian envoy.

"We attach vast importance to Egyptian activity in the Gaza Strip and along the border, but I don't intend to allow Egypt to become a mediator between Israelis and Palestinians," Sharon was quoted as saying by Haaretz.

He said he would not allow Egypt to raise the issue of Israeli-Palestinian talks in Gaza or of comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

The "disengagement" plan would remain unilateral, the hawkish Israeli premier said.

He claimed that renewing negotiations with Palestinians through Egyptian mediation would thwart his plan and endanger the roadmap.

After sacking  two ministers of the far-right National Union who were opposed to his plan, Sharon got a conditional cabinet approval of his disengagement plan.

The modified version essentially calls for phased evacuation of all 7,500 Jewish settlers in the Gaza Strip, but requires Cabinet voting before such a decision could be implemented.