– The Arafat Legacy

Peace process remains frozen despite historic Gaza pullout
By Ofira Koopmans

Tel Aviv - \'The situation has been created to allow the Palestinians and us to reach a historic breakthrough in our relations,\' Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon said nearly one year ago.

He was only half right.

Israelis and Palestinians did witness historic change in 2005. In a unilateral move widely welcomed internationally, Israel evacuated its settlers and withdrew its army from Gaza in August and September, ending 38 years of occupation of the Strip.

But although it was described as a \'window of opportunity\' to revive the peace process, at the end of the year the process remains frozen.

And its future remains uncertain as both Israel and the Palestinians are heading for parliamentary elections in late January and March respectively.

The year began with high expectations when the moderate Mahmoud Abbas was elected on January 9 as the first post-Yasser Arafat Palestinian president.

On February 8, Sharon and Abbas declared a mutual ceasefire in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. After five weeks of intense talks, all 13 Palestinian factions endorsed the ceasefire at a summit in Cairo by declaring a period of \'calm\'.

But while the largest Islamic faction Hamas largely abided by the truce, the smaller Islamic Jihad did not. During the past year Islamic Jihad leaders from the northern West Bank launched five suicide bombings in Israeli cities.

These led Israel to renew widespread arrest raids in the West Bank. Israel also imposed a condition on reviving the peace negotiations: Abbas must disarm and dismantle the military wings of Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and his own ruling Fatah movement, the al- Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

The months leading up to the summer were dominated by frantic preparations for the Gaza pullout, as well as loud protests and last- minute efforts by the settler movement and the Israeli right-wing to stop the move which daily became more irreversible.

Then the August 15 deadline for the settlers to leave arrived. They were given two final days to leave voluntarily before the forced evacuation began on August 17.

The emotional scenes of settlers and soldiers breaking down in tears, of evacuees shouting insults at uncomfortable evacuating forces, of both sides - in other cases - holding each other in comforting embraces, will remain deeply engraved in the Israeli consciousness for many years.

But the operation was completed in less than six days without major violence.

The Israeli army withdrew in a single night three weeks later, prompting thousands of jubilant Palestinians to storm the evacuated areas, and leading to several days of celebrations, looting and chaos in the former settlements and at Gaza\'s previously heavily-secured border with Egypt.

The Gaza pullout was the high-point of the year.

Little more than two months later, Israel\'s Labour Party, which had joined the coalition to help push through the plan, left the government, paving the way for early elections on March 28. <!--page-->

On the same day, Sharon stunned Israelis by announcing he was quitting the Likud party he helped establish more than three decades ago to form his own, centrist Kadima movement and rid himself of a group of hardline \'rebels\' in the Likud who had hamstrung him ever since he announced his Gaza pullout plan two years ago.

As the Israeli political map is undergoing a rapid transformation, so is that of the Palestinians, who are due to chose a new parliament on January 25 for the first time in a decade.

Abbas is facing a stiff challenge from the radical Hamas movement, which is taking part for the first time and the president will after the vote find himself working with a parliament, and possibly even a government, that includes Hamas leaders after years of Fatah dominance.

He may therefore find it even harder after the elections to disarm and dismantle Hamas\' armed wing and those of other militant factions, although he has expressed hope Hamas will do so of its own accord out of \'political responsibility\'.

But \'dismantling the terrorist infrastructure\' remains Sharon\'s prime condition for reviving the peace process.

For all the radical and historic changes of the past year, if Sharon is re-elected as is expected, the same men will be facing each other and the same challenges.