JERUSALEM, 1 December 2005 — Israel’s defense minister threatened yesterday to block Gaza’s crossings into Israel, a step that would strangle Gaza’s economy, because of dissatisfaction with arrangements to prevent militants from entering the coastal strip via Egypt.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz spoke a day after Fadel Zahar, brother of Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar, returned to Gaza after 14 years in exile, crossing through the Gaza-Egypt border, which is run by Palestinians with the help of European monitors.
The Rafah terminal on that border opened Saturday after arduous Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and a personal push from US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Zahar’s arrival came as Hamas prepared for its first foray into parliamentary elections, set for Jan. 25.
Yesterday, the Islamic movement announced on its website that its top three candidates would be well-known leaders Mahmoud Zahar, Ismail Haniyeh and Hassan Yousef. Also on the list is the widow of Abdel-Aziz Rantisi, killed last year in an Israeli air strike.
Hamas initially said it would keep its list secret until the last possible moment in mid-December for fear candidates would be targeted by Israel which opposes Hamas’ participation in the vote. Hamas calls for Israel’s destruction and has sent dozens of suicide bombers into Israel, killing hundreds.
Israel was concerned that after its Gaza pullout in September, Palestinian militants and weapons would find their way into Gaza. Under the US-brokered agreement, Israel is receiving closed-circuit TV pictures from the crossing. However, Israel is not receiving computer data fast enough to allow identification of those entering.
Mofaz warned Wednesday that Israel would have to protect itself.
“If it doesn’t improve and the Palestinians don’t cooperate (in Rafah) we will close the Erez and Karni crossings,” Mofaz said during a tour of the area, referring to two Gaza-Israel crossings, one for cargo and one for people.
“They (Karni and Erez) will become international crossings in all senses, and I really hope that the Palestinians understand the significance of this step,” Mofaz said. This would mean Israel is severing the customs union with the Palestinian areas, a step that could devastate the struggling Palestinian economy.
Though the Rafah crossing got the most attention, because it is the first border point ever to come under Palestinian control, Karni and Erez are at least as important.
While Rafah opens into the expanses of the Sinai desert, far from main ports, Karni, in central Gaza, is a cargo crossing with access to nearby Israeli seaports for both imports and exports.
Erez, at the northern end of the territory, is a gateway for workers entering Israel — a vital source of income for the poverty-stricken area — and for cargo.
Fadel Zahar was deported by Israel to Lebanon in 1991. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said he didn’t know whether other Hamas leaders planned to return from exile. “They have the right to return to their home whenever they want,” he said.
Meanwhile, an Israeli woman who acted as a human shield to protect a wanted Palestinian militant faces a three-year prison sentence after agreeing to a plea bargain, legal officials said yesterday.
Tali Fahima will plead guilty to charges of contact with a foreign agent with the intention of harming national security, transferring information to the enemy and disobeying a legal order, her lawyer, Smadar Ben-Natan, told Reuters.
Prosecutors will drop more serious charges, carrying a maximum life term, of aiding the enemy during wartime and supporting a terror group. Fahima is expected to be paroled in a year due to time served, Ben-Natan said.
Fahima moved to the West Bank city of Jenin at the height of a five-year-old Palestinian uprising where she befriended Zakaria Al-Zubaidi, leader of the militant Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
Fahima, a frequent guest at Zubaidi’s Jenin house, told reporters she was staying close to the Al-Aqsa brigades leader to protect him from Israeli assassination.
Zubaidi’s second-in-command was killed by the Israeli army in Jenin a year ago. Zubaidi is still alive.
Fahima was arrested last year and held for three months without trial, a measure Israel usually reserves for Palestinians detained in the West Bank and Gaza, before she was indicted.
Prosecutors said she translated for Palestinian gunmen a secret military document which they obtained that outlined Israeli army plans to detain or kill militants.
“I am sure that she regrets what happened in terms of the consequences but at the time she regarded it as legitimate political activity and this is how she sees it,” Ben-Natan said.
Fahima, who said she once supported the right-wing Likud party, has been a critic of Israeli occupation in the West Bank.
