Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has reasserted the importance of the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip as a part of the roadmap peace plan. (file photo)

    BEIJING, Dec. 22 -- Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has reasserted the importance of the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip as a part of the roadmap peace plan.

    After returning to the West Bank city of Ramallah from his visit to several Arab countries, Abbas said that the Israeli plan to unilaterally disengage from Palestinians including a withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements in 2005 should be part of the roadmap and not an alternative to it.

    Abbas demands the Israeli government coordinate the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian National Authority.

    He says the Palestinian dialogue in the Gaza Strip will continue to prepare for the post-withdrawal period. Enditem