RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) — Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad called on Israel on Thursday to halt military operations in the occupied West Bank following the coming into force of a truce in and around Gaza.
"All those Israeli military operations in areas under our control must cease," said Fayyad, whose government's writ has been limited to the West Bank since the Islamist Hamas movement's seizure of Gaza in June last year.
The Western-backed premier said the Israeli security presence in the occupied territory "undermines our efforts, the credibility of our efforts, the morale of our troops, and it undermines our credibility politically."
He nonetheless welcomed the Egyptian-brokered truce in and around Gaza which Israel has said will trigger a gradual easy of its blockade of the Hamas-controlled territory from Sunday if it holds.
"It is a very important step as it should allow an improvement of living conditions in the Gaza Strip and an easing of the suffering of the population," Fayyad told AFP.
"This truce boosts our position in calling for a reopening of the crossing points into Gaza and this is very important. This truce must be given every chance to succeed," he said.
The Gaza truce, which Hamas has said will last for an initial six months, does not extend to the West Bank where Israel says its military operations are essential to preventing attacks inside the Jewish state.
Fayyad's government was named by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas after Hamas seized Gaza, replacing a national unity government led by senior Hamas official Ismail Haniya.
Fayyad also expressed concern over the lack of progress in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian leadership that were revived to great fanfare in the United States last November after a seven-year gap.
"I'm especially alarmed by the fact that there has been a substantial, dramatic increase in terms of the settlement activity," he said.
In recent months, Israel has announced plans to build hundreds more homes for Jewish settlers in the West Bank.
Fayyad said this could undermine chances of reaching an internationally backed two-state solution, in which a viable Palestinian state would coexist with Israel.
The premier, who travels to Berlin for an international conference on Palestinian security next week, said he would issue a call for international support for his efforts to bolster the Palestinian police force and justice system in the West Bank.
"We are looking for help, both technical and financial, in our effort to build up our capacity in that important sphere. I view security as the most basic function that any responsible state should provide for its citizens," he said.
Under the so-called roadmap peace plan drafted by the international community five years ago which Israel and the Palestinians accepted as the basis of their renewed peace efforts, Israel is supposed to freeze settlement activity while the Palestinians take steps to boost security.
To that end, the Palestinians have already deployed security personnel in the city of Nablus and other formerly restive areas of the northern West Bank.
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