New era beginning in Middle East: Abbas

Palestinian workers queue to cross into Israel at the Erez checkpoint outside the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanun yesterday. Construction workers from the impoverished Gaza Strip have been given permission to find work in Israel for the first time in months as a result of last week's Mideast summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt where Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pledged to observe a ceasefire. PHOTO: AFP

Abbas told the newspaper, in comments that appeared on its website, that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who reached a ceasefire deal with the new Palestinian leader at a Feb. 8 summit, is speaking a "different language."

He praised Sharon's plan to evacuate all 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and four of 120 in the West Bank this summer as "a good sign to start with" on the road to peace.

Meanwhile, Responding to death threats against government ministers, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered law enforcement agencies Sunday to crack down on Jewish extremists opposed to the planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Cabinet ministers said the charged climate is reminiscent of the period before the 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin who was in peace negotiations with the Palestinians. One minister warned Sharon himself could become a target. Extremists have put up posters across the country that say Rabin and the prime minister's deceased wife, Lily, are "waiting for Sharon."

Despite the concerns, Sharon's Cabinet approved a list of 500 Palestinian prisoners to be released in coming days, and several hundred Palestinian workers were permitted to return to jobs in Israel in line with agreements reached at a Mideast summit last week.