Hamas vows to fight on after Gaza pullout

Yet tensions between Abbas and the militant group Hamas became apparent when Cabinet minister Mohammed Dahlan said the Palestinian flag must be the official banner at all celebrations. He did not refer to Hamas directly, but the group has said it plans its own military-style celebrations, and is sewing thousands of its own green banners.

“This era is the era of unity, and the era that will end any competition or disagreement,” Dahlan told the crowd.

Hamas training videos released
Hamas, on Friday, invited TV cameramen for the first time to film about 1,000 militants training ahead of the pullout. The release of the pictures of militants rappelling from high-rise walls and jumping through hoops of fire was seen as a challenge to the Palestinian Authority.

But it was unclear whether the training — which included the infiltration and attack of a Jewish settlement — meant the group would fire on withdrawing Israeli troops and settlers, despite demands by the Palestinian leadership that they allow Israel to evacuate the area quietly.

Israel is to begin its withdrawal from Jewish settlements in Gaza early Monday and later pull out of four West Bank settlements. The Israeli Defense Ministry said Friday it wants to complete the withdrawal by Sept. 4.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suggested in an interview published Friday that Israel could eventually relinquish more West Bank settlements. He reiterated, however, that Israel would keep major West Bank settlement blocs. “Not everything will be there. The issue will be raised during the final status talks with the Palestinians,” Sharon told the Yediot Ahronot newspaper.

Sharon said he is convinced the withdrawal from Gaza will benefit Israel in the long run. “I have no regrets,” he told Yediot. “Even if I had known the level of (settler) resistance, I would have done it.”

When Sharon decided more than a year ago to withdraw from Gaza, captured 38 years ago, he reasoned that would make it easier for Israel to hold on to the major West Bank settlement blocs, where most of the 240,000 settlers live. In all, 9,000 settlers are to be uprooted.

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