Day of joy for Palestinians

The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday held an emergency meeting with the security leaders in al-Saraya, the headquarters of the Palestinian security forces in Gaza. The participants in the meeting discussed the measures for imposing full control on the liberated areas, and preventing violations, especially inside the settlements which were destroyed by Israel while Jewish Synagogues were left standing.

Abbas told journalists in Gaza that "the Israeli withdrawal is a day of happiness and joy the Palestinians had missed for one century," but he warned of the need to settle the outstanding issue of the border crossing, so that Israel will not in-effect convert the Gaza Strip into a huge prison, as he alleged.

The Palestinian president added that there are many steps that should be carried out in the phase after the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, especially benefiting from the land to meet the needs of the people in Gaza. He also stressed the need to proceed forward in the peace process in order to establish a viable Palestinian state on the lands of the West Bank and Gaza.

The operation of the withdrawal and the deployment of the Palestinian forces came in the course of a joint cooperation between the two sides. A meeting was held at al-Matahin ( mills) barrier that included the leader of the Palestinian national security forces Col. Suleiman Halas and the commander of the Israeli forces Aviv Koushavi.

Earlier, the Israeli flag was removed in a celebration held in Nafe Dekalim settlement following the announcement of the end of the Israeli military occupation rule of Gaza.

During the few coming days, Egypt will complete the deployment of 750 soldiers of the border guards along the Egyptian side with Gaza, most of them concentrate along the passage of Salah Eddine ( Philadelphia ) in order to preserve security and prevent what is called the smuggling of weapons.