Palestinian security forces deploy in Gaza

GAZA - Palestinian security forces took up positions in northern Gaza on Friday under orders from President Mahmoud Abbas to curb militant attacks as part of his plan to end bloodshed and revive peacemaking.

The deployment of hundreds of paramilitary police, preceded by ceasefire talks between Abbas and militants and a sharp drop in violence in Gaza, was the clearest sign of renewed security cooperation with Israel in more than four years of fighting.

"Talks with Hamas are positive and are continuing," Abbas' office said in a statement, referring to the powerful Islamic group that says it will only agree to a truce if Israel ceases all military activity in Gaza.

Wearing berets and carrying assault rifles, Palestinian security men entered the border towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya and other parts of northern Gaza to prevent rocket and mortar bomb attacks on Jewish settlements and southern Israel.

"This is great. I hope it's going to be the beginning of calm at last," said Abu Tayseer al-Bakhri, 51, who lives near the border fence with Israel.

Reducing bloodshed is crucial to keeping alive peace hopes stirred by the January 9 election of Abbas to succeed Arafat on a platform of ending fighting.

Any peace will be fragile in a densely populated area where a single explosion or clash could cause a chain reaction. Israel has warned the Palestinians resuming strikes against settlements and towns would lead to a large-scale military operation in Gaza.

"Our orders are clear: to control these areas and to stop attacks," said Ismail al-Dahdouh, a senior officer, after briefing security personnel on the most extensive deployment of Palestinian forces in Gaza in more than four years.

But asked what would happen if his men encountered militants out to harm Israelis, Dahdouh told Reuters: "We will avoid clashing with them and we will talk to them in a positive way."

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who briefly broke off contacts with the new Palestinian leadership after a Gaza attack killed six Israelis last week, sent greetings to Abbas on the occasion of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday.

"Abbas responded by saying he appreciated Sharon's kind wishes and urged him to work together to achieve peace for the Palestinians and the Israelis," Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said.

Aides to Abbas said he had discussed with militant leaders in Gaza this week the need for restraint to help ensure Israel pulls Jewish settlers out of the territory this year as planned -- a step it says it will not take "under fire".

In a sign that Abbas' efforts could be working, militants have not launched a rocket or mortar bomb in Gaza since Tuesday.

"The factions are waiting to see what Abbas has (to offer)," said a spokesman for the militant Popular Resistance Committees, also linking the lull to Eid al-Adha, which ends on Sunday.

In Beit Hanoun, where the Israeli army has carried out punishing raids against militants, paramilitary police inspected vehicles in a scene repeated across northern Gaza.

Israel's army chief, Moshe Yaalon, called the deployment a "positive development". Abbas' office said Palestinian security forces would move into southern Gaza in the next 48 hours.

A 17-year-old Israeli died on Friday of wounds she suffered in a rocket attack on the border town of Sderot last week.

Israel, meanwhile, partially reopened Gaza's Rafah crossing with Egypt, which was closed in December when militants bombed an army post at the terminal, killing five soldiers. Thousands of Palestinians stuck in Egypt will be allowed to return home.

- REUTERS