Posted on 11/03/2005 6:55:39 PM PST by Sabramerican
U.S. to Israel: Gaza cargo crossings must remain open By Akiva Eldar and Shmuel Rosner
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will demand in her upcoming visit to Israel that Jerusalem immediately remove all obstacles to the passage of cargo between Israel and Gaza through the Erez and Karni Checkpoints.
James Wolfensohn, the Quartet's special envoy on the disengagement, will also come here next week to discuss the issue, with the goal of resolving the problem before the start of Gaza's vegetable export season, which is in less than three weeks.
Rice and Wolfensohn plan to demand that Israel not close the checkpoints in response to terror attacks or general warnings about planned attacks, but only do so when there are specific warnings about a planned attack involving a particular checkpoint.
They also plan to demand that Israel immediately allow convoys of trucks and buses to start running between Gaza and the West Bank.
(Excerpt) Read more at haaretz.com ...
You will know that Israel is doomed if you don't hear Sharon tell Rice to go screw herself within three months.
Israel should tell Rice and company to get lost.
Condoleeza Rice is beginning to sound uncomfortably like Colin Powell. Something in the water at Foggy Bottom.
I'd like to see Israel tell the USA to stop trying to prevent terrorists from entering via the Mexican border, and to simply permit free entry for everyone, unscreened, into the US.
I thought we were already doing that, pretty much.
"Condoleeza Rice is beginning to sound uncomfortably like Colin Powell. Something in the water at Foggy Bottom."
It's her staff. So much for the idea that Rice would clean up the situation at State.
I have to admit I was horribly mistaken. The Gaza withdrawal was a terrible mistake.
Not sure what Israel's best move is now. They may just have to dig in and freeze the current situation, see if they can contain Gaza terrorism from their current posture.
Apparently, this means Israel becoming the "bad guy" again.
In addition, they must be considering a reconquest of Gaza.
I'm ashamed of this Administration's b.s. re: The Roadmap.
It's a crock. It's suicidal for America.
Colin Powell never came close to saying what she's saying.
Read above. If there is a terrorist attack on Israel, Israel must continue giving the Arabs access as if nothing happened.
"...with the goal of resolving the problem before the start of Gaza's vegetable export season, which is in less than three weeks."
???
That is already the case.
They just cross between checkpoints. Free entry for all, unscreened.
Bush does precious little to stop this.
Bad example. We have free, unscreened entry for anyone who wants to cross in from Mexico. It's the GOP's latest brilliant idea, a war against its grassroots.
Strangely they both answered to the same boss.
She's sounding like her mentor, Maddy Albright's Daddy.
It is politically incorrect to point out that there was a one hundred million dollar vegetable export that should be harvested and sent to Europe right now. The road map took the farms of the Jews and gave them to the Arabs "for peace". 20% of the fresh vegetable imports came from the Jewish Gaza strip farms. So she, like a good politician ignores reality and pretends the billion dollar industry still exists, to hide the incredible disaster of the State Department policies.
The green houses were stripped, the wiring, plastic sheeting and irrigation systems stolen, the plants left to die. The exports, now, do not exist. But, that will not keep the State Department from demanding Israel lower its guard, and allow its citizens to be killed to protect the non existent crops.
Sadly, I'm doubtful at this point that Sharon will do what you've described. The old lion has had his mane shaved, just like Samson. I wonder how Condi would react if Kofi Annan or the Foreign Minister of France, Sudan, North Korea, or Iran demanded that the US must keep its border crossings open no matter what. Apparently, the Imam who taught her replacement theology at the Presbyterian "church" where she was raised did his job well.
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Open means, of course, open with no Israeli inspection of what crosses the border. Another of many examples of an issue that even under Oslo was to be settled in final negotiations, which the US has unilaterally settled in favor of the palestinians. And people will die because of it.
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