Posted on 08/28/2006 11:16:04 PM PDT by jdm
GAZA CITY: The US proposes deploying international observers at the main cargo crossing between Israel and Gaza to prevent repeated security closures of Gaza's economic lifeline, Palestinian and Israeli officials said yesterday. Both Israel and the Palestinians support the idea. However, Israel would only consider its implementation after the release of an Israeli soldier kidnapped by Hamas-allied militants in June. US officials in Israel had no immediate comment. The Karni crossing has been closed by Israel for long stretches this year following security alerts and attacks by Palestinian militants. Virtually all of Gaza's imports and exports go through Karni. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the proposal to deploy observers on the Palestinian side of the crossing came from Maj Gen Keith Dayton, the US security coordinator in the West Bank and Gaza. The plan also calls for training Palestinian security, trade and customs officials and building a new terminal at Karni, he said. The Israeli daily Haaretz said 90 international observers would be deployed on the Palestinian side of Karni, backed by 30 assistants, and the terminal would be expanded on both sides of the border. The observers would include Europeans and Americans, it said.
The plan calls for an investment of some $22 million to train and equip the Palestinian officials, Erekat said. More than 400 trucks could pass through a revamped crossing each day, he said, adding that the current trickle does not meet Palestinian needs. The plan was approved by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Erekat said. Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz welcomed the idea in a meeting with Dayton last week, but said he will not work on the plan until the Israeli soldier, Cpl Gilad Shalit, has been released, Peretz' office said. Also yesterday, four Palestinians were killed near Gaza City. Palestinian security officials said the four were manning roadblocks in the area when they were hit by an Israeli missile fired from the air. The Israeli military said Israeli soldiers operating in the area killed three Palestinians in a fire fight, but did not know of a fourth man killed.
Two of the dead were from Hamas and two from the presidential guards linked to Abbas' Fatah movement, Palestinian security officials said. A fifth Palestinian was shot and killed near the southern Gaza town of Rafah, according to witnesses and hospital officials. Salama Abu Adwan, 21, was returning to his home when he was shot by an Israeli tank that was firing at empty agricultural fields, a witness and hospital officials said. The army said it was looking into the incident. Meanwhile, the army and Palestinian witnesses said Israeli troops shot and killed an apparently unarmed Palestinian civilian in the West Bank town of Jenin. Witnesses said Sabri Halil, 64, was a local guard at a school who was shot after he aimed his flashlight at a passing car. The army said it fired at a man on a rooftop holding what looked like a weapon. The army said it was investigating the incident. Also in southern Gaza, Hamas gunmen shot a motorist who refused to stop at a roadblock, witnesses said. The gunmen said they came under fire from the approaching car and returned fire.
The identity of the dead man was not immediately known. However, there have been growing tensions between Hamas and Fatah in recent months. The growing lawlessness in Gaza prompted an unusually frank comment by the spokesman of the Hamas government, Ghazi Hamad, who wrote that the Palestinians have bungled the aftermath of Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and should stop blaming Israel for all their woes. The article, a rare case of Palestinian self-criticism, was published in Palestinian newspapers yesterday. Hamad urged Palestinians to look beyond the conflict with Israel in searching for the causes of internal violence and lawlessness sweeping through the Gaza Strip. "I am not interested in discussing the ugliness and brutality of the occupation because it is not a secret. Instead, I prefer self-criticism and self-evaluation," Hamad wrote.
Israel's withdrawal from Gaza last year, after 38 years of occupation, had raised hopes the Palestinians would rebuild the impoverished coastal strip as the first step toward gaining full independence in Gaza and the West Bank. However, rival Palestinian factions have been locked in a violent power struggle, and fighting with Israel has continued. "Our extreme joy at their departure made us forget the most important question: What is our next step?" Hamad wrote. He said the easiest explanation to justify the "failure" is to blame the Israelis. Hamad said his article was a personal opinion and did not represent the position of the government. The UN World Food Program warned yesterday that Gaza was facing a rapidly escalating crisis from Israel's two-month-old offensive there. "Industries which were once the backbone of Gaza's economy and food system, such as the agriculture and fishing industries, are suffocated by the current situation and risk losing all viability," said Arnold Vercken, the local WFP director. The crisis has left 70 per cent of Gaza's population lacking food and forced the WFP to increase the number of Gazans receiving aid to 220,000 from 160,000, the WFP said.
Stupid idea...American troops as toothless "observers" has already been tried, discredited, and discarded a long time ago.
Keep the hell out of there! I don't want our boys needlessly killed.
Wait! Change that to I don't want them killed, period. My writing isn't the best at this hour of the morning.
Just what they need: High Priority "TARGETS"! This is a foolish PC idea!
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