RAMALLAH, 25 April 2005 — Palestinian negotiators said yesterday they want Israel to throw open the gates to the Gaza Strip after its planned withdrawal from the fenced-in territory this summer, and suggested international monitors could control borders to allay Israel’s security concerns.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, meanwhile, said that ahead of his planned trip to the United States in May, he might meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The Bush administration has urged Israelis and Palestinians to do more to coordinate the Gaza pullout, initially envisioned by Israel as a unilateral move.
Abbas traveled from the West Bank to Gaza yesterday, a day after appointing three new security chiefs, another step in his internal reform program. The new chiefs are veterans, but with the appointments, Abbas has streamlined the unwieldy security apparatus, cutting down the number of branches to three.
Israel’s plan of “unilateral disengagement” from Gaza and four West Bank settlements says border arrangements will remain in place. Israel fears free movement would enable Palestinians to smuggle weapons into Gaza and launch attacks on Israel from Gaza.
Israel currently controls all crossings in and out of Gaza — the Rafah terminal linking Gaza and Egypt, as well as the Karni, Kissufim and Erez crossings into Israel. During more than four years of fighting, Israel has imposed stringent travel restrictions on Gazans, who can only leave the strip with special permits.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said the sides should focus on coordinating the pullout. “Bringing up different issues now, changing the focus, is not necessarily going to be productive,” he said.
The Palestinians fear that after Israel evacuates 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and withdraws its troops, it will isolate the 360-square-kilometer strip with 1.3 million Palestinian residents. Gaza is surrounded by a heavily fortified fence.
Palestinian negotiators said yesterday that Israel must allow free movement in and out of Gaza, relinquish control of the Rafah crossing and establish a “safe passage” between Gaza and the West Bank.
The demands were also contained in a four-page paper on Palestinian preparations for the pullout, presented to senior US envoys several days ago and obtained by The Associated Press. In the document, the Palestinian Authority writes it seeks “full ... sovereignty over the land borders, regional waters and air space of these areas, including securing an international presence.”
Mohammed Dahlan, the Palestinian Cabinet minister in charge of coordinating the withdrawal with Israel, said that “there will be no separation between the West Bank and Gaza, and we will not allow the Gaza Strip to be turned into a prison”.
Palestinian National Security Adviser Jibril Rajoub suggested the Palestinians might refuse to coordinate the withdrawal if the demands were rejected. In an interview with the Palestinian daily Al-Quds, Rajoub raised the possibility that international monitors supervise the Rafah crossing.
Israeli troops currently patrol the Gaza-Egypt border, controlling a narrow, heavily fortified strip at the southern end of Gaza. Israel is negotiating security arrangements along the border with Egypt, and has not yet decided whether to leave the patrol road, a flashpoint of fighting in the past four years.
— With input from agencies
