GAZA, Palestine, February 1, 2005 (IPC+WAFA)-- The Palestinian cabinet praised the underway internal security moves including maintaining public order, preventing unauthorized weapons and removing buildings on state-owned lands, Palestine News Agency (WAFA) reported.

In a meeting held under the chairmanship of PM Ahmad Qorei in Gaza on Monday, the cabinet reiterated a previous resolution concerning preventing local Palestinian residents from holding unauthorized weapons

The cabinet discussed as well the latest Israeli decision to revive a long-dormant ´absentee property law´, through which the Israeli occupation authorities would likely seize larger acres of Palestinian-owned lands in the occupied east Jerusalem for settlement purposes.

In this respect, the cabinet rejected utterly such Israeli attempts to deform geographic and demographic facts in the Arab holy city (Jerusalem), and called on the international community including the Quartet (United Nations, United States, European Union, Russia) to pressure Israel to stop its racist expansionist moves.

As for the latest Palestinian factions agreement on a unilateral truce with Israel, the Palestinian government welcomed such understandings and called upon all the Islamic and national factions to work on reinforcing the intra-Palestinian national unity.

In addition, the cabinet discussed the recent meetings between former internal security minister, Mohammad Dahalan and Israeli Defense Minister, Shaul Mofaz, in which they tried working out understandings regarding possible Israeli troops redeployment from some West Bank cities.

The cabinet concluded its meeting by extending thanks to the US Agency for International Development (USAID), for the allocation of $21 millions to develop the Palestinian health sector. (© Copyright IPC 02/01/05)