Rice: Israel and PA clinch deal

[Guest]

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/644942.html


Israeli and Palestinian officials have clinched a long-awaited deal on the manning of the Gaza-Egypt border crossing, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday, after marathon Israeli-Palestinian talks through the night and well into Tuesday morning.

Rice praised the deal as a "big step forward" in strained Israeli-Palestinian relations. She personally presided over the final rounds of talks.

"This agreement is intended to give Palestinian people the freedom to move, to trade, to live ordinary lives," Rice told a news conference.

Under the deal, the border would tentatively open November 25, and construction of a Gaza seaport would begin.

Palestinians would be able to travel between the West Bank and Gaza in bus convoys through Israel.

The agreement gives the Palestinians control over a border for the first time and will provide a much-needed boost to the shattered Gaza economy. It also marks an important breakthrough for the sides, who so far have failed to capitalize on the momentum created by the withdrawal.

The deal also strengthens Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas ahead of January 25 parliament elections and help him fend off a strong challenge by the Islamic militant group Hamas.

The European group will be headed by an Italian general, said Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Shaath.

***Israeli President Katsav presently in Rome (article)

Full story at URL above

[Neggy]

Re: Rice: Israel and PA clinch deal

I have read some of the commentary express concern that the port will be unregulated and allow almost any kind of materials/goods (weapons , WMD) to be shipped directly to the Palestinians...and they want the airport open as well.

Here is the concern expressed at WND. Everybody remebmer this incident??.......

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/ar...TICLE_ID=47414

The last time the Palestinians had control over a seaport, they were caught trying to smuggle large quantities of heavy weaponry.

In January 2002, Israeli commandos stopped the Karine-A water vessel about 300 miles off the coast of Israel. The ship, which late PA leader Yasser Arafat admitted to ordering, was carrying 50 tons of Iranian-made weapons, including Katyusha rockets, ammunition and explosives.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon described the vessel as a "Ship of Terror" which "would have changed the strategic balance" between Israel and the Palestinians.

[Neggy]

Re: Rice: Israel and PA clinch deal

Some additional news from Debka (for what it is worth)...

Their summary paragraph..

The US secretary imposed unprecedented encroachments on Israeli sovereignty and severe restraints on its military counter-terror action.

In effect, Israel accepted the American Gaza package which gives the Palestinians free access through open borders to Egypt and Israel plus a deep-sea port and international airfield – all without proper security controls against terrorist and arms smuggling.

Rice Secures Rafah Package Stripped of Adequate Counter-Terror Safeguards

DEBKAfile Special Analysis

November 15, 2005, 1:28 PM (GMT+02:00)

The White House ordered Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to stay over in Jerusalem until the deal for the Gaza Strip’s international crossings was in the bag. She was almost there – “an accord is within sight” – Monday, Nov. 14. But she delayed her departure to join President Bush in South Korea until it was settled down to the last detail at issue between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

The breakthrough was announced after she met defense minister Shaul Mofaz Tuesday morning. It was achieved after Israel backed down from virtually all its demands for security safeguards against terrorist incursions.

DEBKAfile’s political sources analyze some of the agreement’s salient features.

The Rafah crossing from Gaza to Egypt will reopen on November 25 as a Palestinian-Egyptian facility with a European presence. Video images will be transferred to a control center at the Kerem Shalom crossing which is on Israeli soil. It will be manned by Israelis and Palestinians with a European presence.

Israel will not be entitled to demand that suspected terrorists be kept out or detained. The Palestinians will only be required to report on the arrivals of VIPs, diplomats and humanitarian cases – no one else. Mofaz lauded this as “another stage in Egypt’s involvement.” He made no reference to the failure of Egyptian border police’s failure to secure the Philadelphi border enclave against the massive smuggling of arms and terrorists since the withdrawal of Israeli troops.

As for the crossings from Gaza into Israel, Israel surrendered the prerogative to shut down them down to secure personnel against terror alerts, although these facilities are notoriously prime terrorist targets. Jerusalem has undertaken to first notify the US embassy in Tel Aviv and back up its “request” with specific information, thus parting with its intelligence secrets. It must then wait for permission from Washington – or its refusal - to the closure.

Effective preventive action may well be held up by this delay.

By surrendering this point, Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon relinquished a key element of Israel’s sovereign right to self-defense and agreed to hamstring its own army’s freedom to combat terror. The presence of Palestinian customs inspectors at Kerem Shalom makes an additional inroad on Israeli sovereignty.

From Dec. 15 to January 15, “secured Palestinian convoys” will start rolling across southern Israel from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank. The Palestinians want their own forces to secure the trucks. All that has been settled is that the Americans and Europeans will determine the procedures for their passage through Israeli territory.

There is no sign of the Sharon government standing up to Washington’s demands on that point either, so it is more than likely that Palestinian “forces” will be let loose on a wide swathe of southern Israel to escort 150 trucks a day bound for Hebron, Ramallah, Jenin and Nablus.

The provisions for the Rafah crossing will also be applied to Gaza’s deep sea port construction of which begins without delay. Israel has therefore forfeited control and oversight over incoming goods and people to Gaza by sea as well as overland.

[wendyj]

Re: Rice: Israel and PA clinch deal

It all sounds insane! This makes me think that eyes ahve been blinded and "the Plan" is reapidly and spiritally unfolding before our eyes.

[Guest]

Re: Rice: Israel and PA clinch deal

I should have known this news story would have been posted on Wedg I just mentioned it in another thread. Thanks R&W! These articles include a lot more details.

[Neggy]

Re: Rice: Israel and PA clinch deal

...meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Palestinian election platforms: Terrorize Israel
Members of Abbas' party advocating 'path of jihad and resistance'
Posted: November 16, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Aaron Klein
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

JERUSALEM – As part of their campaign for upcoming Palestinian elections, senior politicians from Palestinian Authority President Mahmous Abbas' Fatah Party have been advocating the past few days continued terror attacks against Israel, including the firing of missiles, until the Jewish state leaves the West Bank and Jerusalem, WND has learned.

The rhetoric comes in spite of a cease-fire signed in February by Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and Abbas' pledge to the international community to disarm the Palestinian terror groups.

Aren't you glad we are giving peace a chance???

[Guest]

Re: Rice: Israel and PA clinch deal

So since I have ADD, what's the deal?
Are we promising to protect Israel, should they get attacked?
Are we promising them peace?

If we are doing both of these things, then what does the AC do?
Doesn't he promise to protect Israel? Doesn't he promise them peace?

Just wondering....