Gaza: land-border issues
The status of negotiations over the border crossing at Rafah between Gaza and Egypt still seems very unclear. This is a good piece of reporting from AP's Ravi Nessman about how the stranglehold that Israel already operates at the Karni crossing point between Gaza and Israel has been stifling the Gaza economy for years.
Now, Israel also wants to be able to (continue to?) exert the same kind of control over the goods passing through the Rafah crossing-point, too.
Nessman's piece seems like a good snapshot of the land-border issues, and is worth reading in full.
He quotes Mohammed Tilbani, the owner of a cookie factory in Deir al-Balah that in the past has employed as many as 350 Gazans, as saying he believes his company can sell as much as $1.1 million worth of cookies a month if there are no restrictions on exporting his products (and presumably, also, no restrictions on importing his raw materials). Tilbani, Nessman wrote,
- called on the Palestinian Authority to fight hard for a port, airport and open border for Gaza.
If they don't get it, he said, "We will return to war."
JWN readers will recall that I wrote about the political importance of Gaza gaining maximum access to international markets in this August CSM column and this JWN post that I put up that same day.
Now, Israel also wants to be able to (continue to?) exert the same kind of control over the goods passing through the Rafah crossing-point, too.
That isn't quite the Israeli position. Israel has already agreed to relinquish control of goods leaving Gaza for Egypt. It wants to continue to have some supervision over goods coming into Gaza, for fairly obvious security reasons.
In any event, Ha'aretz recently reported that the Israeli govenrment has approved a compromise proposed by Egypt. This involves Israel retaining supervision of incoming (but not outgoing) goods for six to nine months through the Kerem Shalom crossing, after which the Rafah crossing will reopen with European inspectors. Israel will maintain a security camera at Rafah but no personnel. In addition, Wolfensohn is continuing to negotiate assurances of smooth import-export traffic. I agree that open land borders are extremely important both economically and politically, and I'm actually fairly optimistic about a satisfactory resolution.
I am less optimistic than Jonathan Edelstein. One faction or another of the Palestinians, or all factions will import better and more weapons and then start using them.
Just yesterday, they announced they had developed a better version of the Qassam missile. What is that for?
Egypt is building up its weaponry and is spending more on it than the Israelis. I don't know whether they're getting value for their money but I don't imagine they are planning for peace. Egypt has no other potential enemies other than Israel. What are they planning to do with their military?
In the Middle East, Peace is possible, as always. Peace is desirable, as always. But peace is not likely, as always.
It seems that, as usual, there's conflicting information. According to this UPI article, there isn't a deal yet on the Rafah terminal; apparently, Israel accepted the Egyptian proposal but the Palestinians don't feel that it provides sufficient assurances. Nevertheless, both Wolfenson and the Palestinian negotiators were quoted as saying that the two sides are close and that they expect a deal within days.
And I still tend to be optimistic. Progress on this issue has been slow but steady for the past few weeks, and Israel realizes that it won't get international recognition of the end of the Gaza occupation unless it relinquishes control of the border. The presence of a camera and third-party inspectors will be enough to satisfy Israeli security concerns - obviously there can't be perfect security, but the Egyptian border patrols have been pretty good lately and Israel has ample surveillance capability to detect major smuggling.
"Israel has ample surveillance capability to detect major smuggling'
Tunnels. Dirty bombs disguised as propane tanks. Rifles in boxes. Missles in trucks.
Cameras can see main battle tanks, and masses of men marching with rifles on their shoulders. And at night the lights might get turned off.
The Palestinians have just announced they have a better version of the Qassam missile. What's that for?
Accidental duplication. Oops.
yeah lets open the airports -- so the Gazan Arabs can import more rockets! Way think about the issues Cobban!