Gaza pullout should be in line with roadmap: US

"We have always said that disengagement should be consistent with the roadmap and not the end of the process," David Pearce told the Palestinian daily al-Quds.

"We see the Gaza disengagement as a very important opportunity to get back to the roadmap and to get back on track with the establishment of a Palestinian state side by side in peace and security with Israel," he added.

The roadmap, which was launched amid great fanfare in June 2003, calls for an end to the violence and the creation of a Palestinian state by the end of 2005. But it has stalled amid persistent unrest.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon intends to dismantle all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and another four on the northern West Bank in early 2005.

While welcoming the withdrawals, Palestinians have insisted that they should be coordinated with them rather than unilaterally implemented as envisaged by Sharon.

Meanwhile, Hamas threatened revenge after an Israeli helicopter blew up a car on a busy Gaza City street, killing a Hamas militant who was involved in making and firing rockets at Israeli towns.

Six bystanders were wounded, two of them seriously, hospital officials said.

The missile struck Khaled Abu Shamiyeh, 30, as he was riding in his car in Gaza City. Abu Shamiyeh was the head of Hamas in Gaza's Sheik Radwan neighborhood, and was involved in building homemade Qassam rockets, the army said.