Mahmud Abbas called on the Palestinian people Tuesday to show the world they deserved their independence by ensuring that this month's Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip takes place free of violence.
"The withdrawal must take place in a responsible manner," the Palestinian Authority president said in a keynote speech at parliament eight days ahead of the scheduled start of the pullout.
"This is a shared responsibility, not just of the Palestinian Authority but the responsibility of all our people to maintain security in a civilised manner so we can reassure the world and send out a message that we deserve our state."
Abbas, who has been a consistent critic of the armed Palestinian uprising, reiterated appeals for hard-line factions such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad to refrain from firing rockets during and after the pullout.
"This must stop so that we can focus on security and economy," Abbas said.
Despite a de-facto truce agreement, some militants have continued to fire home-made rockets on Israeli targets outside Gaza.
Hamas criticised Abbas's comments, saying that the rocket attacks had been instrumental in Israel's decision to quit Gaza.
"He has forgotten that the rockets of the resistance lie at the roots of the departure of the occupation," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP.
Israeli officials have said they will interrupt the pullout to respond to attacks from militants and warned of the risk of civilian casualties.
Israel is due to uproot the 8,000 settlers from Gaza and several hundred residents living in four northern West Bank settlements from August 17, the first time it has ever evacuated occupied Palestinian territory.
While the Palestinians have welcomed the prospect of a withdrawal from any parts of the occupied territories, they are also wary that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will try and use the Gaza pullout to enable him to keep hold of large West Bank settlement blocs.
Abbas said he had raised these fears during talks with US President George W. Bush in May.
"Mr Bush listened to us ... and said that any change to the borders should be done as a result of an agreement between the two sides."
Abbas also confirmed that the second ever Palestinian parliamentary elections would take place in January but without giving an exact date.
As the clock ticked down towards the evacuation, Israeli soldiers were distributing letters to the settlements urging residents to leave their homes voluntarily before the start of the historic pullout.
The letter by southern command chief General Dan Harael said settlers who have not left by August 15 will be handed an evacuation order and "given every possible assistance" if they agree to leave by midnight on August 16.
Officials in some settlements said while they had received the letters, they had handed them straight back to the soldiers as they did not to be a party to the evacuation.
"We read the letter. It is of no interest to us," said Tehila Hajdu, a member of the Katif settler council.
Apart from dealing with the settlers' defiance, the army has also been confronted with opposition to the pullout within its own ranks.
Chief of Staff Dan Halutz said Tuesday he was determined to nip the problem of insubordination in the bud after around 50 regular soldiers refused to obey an order connected to the disengagement plan.
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