Israel Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and Palestinian Interior Minister General Nasser Yousef have reached an agreement to coordinate the disengagement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), according to a report in HaAretz Sunday.
Yousef, who is responsible for the PA's defense branches, undertook to deploy armed troops as a buffer between the settlements and the built area of Khan Yunis, from which mortar shells and rockets have been fired at Israeli targets. Yousef also promised to prevent mass looting in the evacuated Gush Katif settlements.
Mofaz and Yousef, who know each other from the time Mofaz served as OC Southern Command and Yousef as commander of the Palestinian forces, met last week in Tel Aviv.
Meanwhile, coordination meetings are also being held between the Israeli military's Planning Division Head Major General Yitzhak Harel and Brigadier General Aviv Kochavi, the Israeli military's commander in the Gaza Strip, with Palestinian officers.
According to the report, the coordination is focusing on implementing the disengagement and not on issues that will be raised after the evacuation, such as the passage of Palestinians from Gaza to the West Bank or the future of the Philadelphi route.
In the meantime, on Sunday, settlers evacuated, at the request of the Israeli army, the nine buildings in which they were living in the illegal West Bank outpost of Amuna.
The settlers announced they decided to voluntarily pull out of the structures in light of appeals from the Israeli military to prevent a violent confrontation.
Last Tuesday, the High Court of Justice ordered the Israeli army to evacuate families from the illegal settlement and on Thursday, OC Central Command Yair Naveh gave the settlers 48 hours to leave their homes.
