Such a declaration would strengthen his hand as he tries to win over sceptics in the

Such a declaration would strengthen his hand as he tries to win over sceptics in the referendum of Likud members on the disengagement he has called for 29 April.Ahmed Qureia, the Palestinian Prime Minister, warned the US yesterday not to yield to pressure from Mr Sharon to pre-empt the outcome of “final status” negotiations with the Palestinians. President George Bush and the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak yesterday said they would welcome an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip as a positive step towards a Middle East peace agreement and a future Palestinian state.
“I think any withdrawal from the occupied territory is very highly appreciated,” Mr Mubarak told reporters following a private meeting at President Bush’s ranch. He is a lucky man,” he added.A senior military source confirmed he was in the hands of allied forces, adding: “We’ll be making sure that he is flown out of the country and back to Britain as soon as possible.”Mr Teeley, who had designed and set up a laundry system for the US air base near Nasiriyah last year, returned less than a month ago to take over from a colleague. “I came back here purely and simply to relieve my best friend from his duties so he could go and see his new-born son,” he said.It is a business Mr Teeley has worked in since leaving school at the age of 16 and taking a job with a laundry firm near his mother’s home in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire.Originally from south-east London, with four children from a previous relationship, Mr Teeley moved to Qatar three years ago where he lived with his wife and eight-month-old son.”She is obviously relieved She had been going out of her mind,” said his mother “He said he was good but he just wants to come home It has been quite stressful for him.”. “After two other kinds of operations and investigations we put some pressure on these armed groups and also through negotiations we arrived at the release of Mr Gary Teeley,” the spokesman added.Mr Teeley was initially taken to an Italian field hospital but his firm said yesterday they were expecting him to travel to Basra before heading to Kuwait.Speaking from Nasiriyah, his colleague Ali Jabbir said Mr Teeley was now at the US air base and would be travelling either to the UK or Doha in a week or so “He is very good, very happy.

He said that moves to free the British worker began at 3.30am when forces raided the military headquarters of Muqtada Sadr, the radical Shia cleric. His mother was more concerned as to whether they fed him and he said, ’sort of’ She asked if they hurt him and he said, ‘I am good. I am a grown man, mum’.”Mr Teeley was released after a battle between his kidnappers and local militia on Sunday before being handed over to Italian troops, according to a spokesman for the Italian forces. I’m sure there’s many people.”A consultant for Qatar International Trading, Mr Teeley had been in the Iraqi southern city for just three weeks when he was taken hostage last Monday. “He knew the risks but he felt it was his duty,” said his mother Patricia Teeley yesterday.

“I don’t think, like any of us, he expected the things that suddenly happened this week.”So far the father-of-five has spoken little to his family of his ordeal, choosing instead to reassure his 60-year-old mother, who said that he “sounded very well but shaken”.Ms Law said: “All we know is that he was held on his own and he is as well as can be expected. “It was at that moment that he thought he was going to die,” said Sylvia Law, a family friend.
Yesterday as he prepared to return to the UK, an obviously exhausted Mr Teeley, 37, explained that he had endured mental torture at the hands of his kidnappers and thanked those who had ended his six-day “nightmare” as a hostage.”Obviously I can’t wait to get home,” he said “I’m in good health Obviously I’m not too sure who I have to thank. Iraqis working with foreigners of any kind are increasingly fearful of being accused of being collaborators.. Gary Teeley was at his company house in Nasiriyah when the masked men burst in and shoved a gun in his face. A central aim of the US is to build up Iraqi security forces, but when the 620-man 2nd Battalion of the US-trained new Iraqi army was ordered to Fallujah last week they refused to go.US officers reportedly estimate that 20 to 25 per cent of the Iraqi security forces have disappeared, changed sides or declined to co-operate with the US. They have opened their homes to refugees.” He thought only the Kurdish leaders were really loyal to the Allies.An important development over the past week is that, because of the attack on Fallujah and the offensive against the cleric Muqtada Sadr, there are decreasing number of Iraqis on whom the US can rely. The Americans gamble on dividing us, but the Shia are providing food, medicine and weapons.

He said: “The Americans claim that all the wounded are fighters and will not let us take them away. Families cannot escape because of their snipers.”On the gate into the Iraqi Islamic Party headquarters in Amariyah is a poster of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, killed by an Israeli missile last month. Inside other members of the party, almost all Sunni Arabs, officially allied to the US in Iraq, spoke in terms of outraged nationalism.”We are looking after 400 families from Fallujah,” said Muneeb al-Durubi. Reflecting on the more general impact of the crisis, he said: “The most important thing these days is a kind of marriage between the Sunni and the Shia. He said: “About 350 out of the 600 dead were women and children One was only eight months old. Many died from simple wounds and could have been saved if they had medical attention.”The anger and bitterness of Iraqis such as Dr Illah, a veteran opponent of Saddam Hussein, over the slaughter of civilians in Fallujah shows how few friends the US has left in Iraq.