July 29, 2004

BY ARTHUR MAX

JERUSALEM -- Israel has started compensation talks with Jewish settlers ready to leave the West Bank and Gaza Strip, their lawyer said Wednesday, as part of an evacuation plan that has fueled a Palestinian power struggle.

Israeli Justice Ministry officials held their first meeting with a lawyer representing 90 families living in the Gaza settlements and four in the West Bank, also slated for evacuation, over compensation for voluntarily leaving their homes.

The lawyer, Joseph Tamir, said payments could be made by October, though it was unclear how much the settlers would receive.

''They were playing their cards very close to the chest,'' Tamir said, ''but an advance that does not reflect the ability to buy a new home is not realistic.''

Ideologues among the settlers threaten to resist evacuation, charging that giving up a few settlements means abandoning parts of the God-given Jewish homeland and would endanger Israel's security.

Israel's unilateral pullout plan has contributed to the Palestinian power struggle, with rival groups jockeying to control the seaside strip after Israel leaves. Israel's government refuses to coordinate its moves with Arafat's Palestinian Authority.

With the Israeli pullout moving forward, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia began asserting his authority over a branch of the security forces Wednesday, a concession he won from Yasser Arafat.

U.S. and Israeli leaders -- and many Palestinians -- have voiced skepticism that the deal struck Tuesday was the last word in the tussle between Arafat and a corps of politicians and young militants bridling under his rule. AP