U.S., Palestinians discuss Israel, Gaza
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Senior U.S. envoys met Friday with Palestinian officials to discuss Israel's plan to pull its settlements out of Gaza, Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat said.
Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told an Israeli newspaper last month that he plans to remove 17 of Israel's 21 settlements in Gaza.
The U.S. officials involved in the meeting were Assistant Secretary of State William Burns, deputy director of the National Security Council Stephen Hadley, and council official Eliot Abrams.
They met with Erakat and Palestinian Finance Minister Salam Fayyad for 90 minutes.
"The meeting focused on Sharon's proposed unilateral withdrawal from Gaza," Erakat said. "The Palestinians agreed with the Americans that any steps taken by Sharon should be within the framework of the road map."
The "road map" -- backed by the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia -- aims to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and establish an independent Palestinian state by 2005.
Phase one of the plan includes a call for Palestinians to end their attacks, and Israel to freeze settlement activity and dismantle settlements erected since March 2001.
Gaza is already separated from Israel by a fence, but Israeli troops remain in the area to guard Jewish settlements. Removing the settlements would mean no Israelis would be left for the Israeli military to protect.
In 1994, under the Oslo Accords, Israel ceded control of most of the strip to the Palestinian Authority, but kept control of the coastline, borders, and 24 Jewish settlements where about 7,500 Israelis live in heavily guarded enclaves.
Palestinians have formal self-rule over 58 percent of the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs.
The Palestinians say that any withdrawal of those settlements should be coordinated with the Palestinian Authority.
The American envoys stressed Friday the need for a Palestinian Authority that can provide security and maintain order, according to Erakat.
Sharon met with the envoys Thursday.
Israel seized Gaza during the 1967 Six-Day War, and began building settlements there soon after.
CNN's Sausan Ghosheh contributed to this report
