U.S. to Israel: Bus convoys must start on schedule

The American administration is demanding Israel implement an agreement it signed with the Palestinian Authority and allow bus convoys traveling between the Gaza Strip and West Bank begin on the agreed upon date.

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Dan Halutz said Tuesday that Israel would not allow the convoys until the PA cracked down on rocket fire from the Gaza Strip into Israel.

"Israel has no intention of allowing passage to Palestinian convoys from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank... while the PA is not acting against Qassam rocket fire," Halutz told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

The United States and other Quartet nations have stepped up pressure on Israel to implement an agreement it signed with the PA last month to facilitate the border crossings even before the conference kicks off.

The Quartet asked Israel to renew contacts with the PA on enabling the bus convoys and to reduce the severity of the military closure on the West Bank.

"It is my judgment that that balance can be found and I expect that we will be able to do so within the agreement. On time and in full," David Welch, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, said to Arab television station Al-Shark Al-Awsat on Tuesday.

"We would like the agreement implemented on schedule and discussion are under way amongst parties about how to accomplish that, and I'm confident they will be able to do it. There are people who want to disturb this and other agreements. For that they resort to violence and terror. This agreement has a central feature: To offer the Palestinian a better chance so that Gaza won't be a big prison. On the other hand, to do so in a way that protects Israeli security and the lives of Israelis."

Halutz's comments raised the ire of those participating in a conference of donors to the Palestinian Authority slated to open Wednesday in London.

Senior government sources in Jerusalem expressed concern that Israeli violations of the deal with the PA would turn the London conference into anti-Israel event and would erode diplomatic gains won during the disengagement plan.

A Western diplomatic source said the suspension of the Gaza-West Bank bus convoys is a violation of Israel's agreement with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Diplomats at the London conference expressed hope Israel would understand the strategic ramifications of reneging on explicit obligations it had made to the U.S. administration at this critical time.

Israel, citing security considerations, told diplomats on Friday it has no intention of implementing the agreement until "better times."

During a Friday afternoon briefing for representatives of the international community in Tel Aviv, Brigadier-General Eitan Dangot, who is IDF liaison to Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, and Major General Yossi Mishlav, the coordinator of government activities in the territories, added that anyway there was no chance that the convoys could begin operating on the agreed-upon date (December 15) since Israel needed at least one week to make the necessary preparations.

But Welch told international representatives that the Americans are determined to see the convoys run by December 15, as called for in the agreement.

Senior Palestinian officials say they received similar indications from the U.S. Consul General in Jerusalem, Jacob Walles. Israeli government sources fear that freezing the convoy deal could torpedo Wednesday's London conference on the rehabilitation of Gaza in the wake of Israel's withdrawal and thus nullify the benefits Jerusalem had gained as a result of the disengagement plan.

Mishlav and Dangot also argued that the Palestinians are not abiding by the terms of the Rafah crossing agreement, warning that Israel will significantly intensify security checks at the Erez and Karni crossings unless the Palestinians begin honoring their obligations by Sunday.

At a meeting held by Quartet representatives in Jerusalem on Friday morning, American officials made clear that the Palestinians are honoring their end of the Rafah deal, and that the disagreements stem from technological matters that the Israelis raised as part of new demands.

The Quartet's Middle East envoy, James Wolfensohn, who spent a long time mediating the deal, has said that Israel cannot be allowed to close the Gaza border crossings in reaction to terror attacks that do not emanate from the Gaza Strip.

The chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat condemned the Israeli threat, saying the Palestinians were working to address all issues at Rafah as quickly as possible with the help of the European monitors.

Israel's security-political cabinet decided earlier this week to suspend talks with the PA on operating the bus convoys, despite an agreement reached last month in talks brokered by Rice.

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