GAZA,
November 15, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Palestinians decried Tuesday,
November 15, a US-brokered agreement on the reopening of the Gaza
crossing point, saying the deal badly undermined Palestinian
sovereignty and control over the borders.
"The
agreement infringes on the Palestinian sovereignty and cast a pall
over future negotiations on the fate of the Beit Hanoun and Karni
crossing points as well as on the West Bank," Kayed Al-Ghol,
leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
told IslamOnline.net.
The
Palestinian Authority and Israel hammered out an agreement on Rafah
border crossing early on Tuesday after intense negotiations brokered
by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Under
the agreement, a Palestinian-Israeli joint operation room will be set
on Kerim Shalom crossing east of Rafah to control and monitor the
movement and passage of passengers and goods through the Rafah
crossing, according to the Doha-based Al-Jazeera channel.
The
Tuesday's deal also incorporates the presence of cameras at the Rafah
border with Israeli and Palestinian officers monitoring the video feed
from an operations room several kilometers away.
"This
agreement obviously shows that the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza was a
bid to strengthen the Israeli grip over the occupied Palestinian
territories," Ghol added.
Pressures
 |
|
Rice
announces the agreement at a press conference with EU security and
foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Wolfensohn. (Reuters)
|
The
Palestinian activist said the Gaza borders' deal was the immediate
result of the mounting US and Israeli pressures on the Palestinian
Authority.
"The
US and Israeli pressures on the Palestinian Authority have borne
fruits in pushing the PA to back down on its refusal to allow any
Israeli presence on the borders."
The
operation of the Rafah terminal, the only land crossing between Gaza
and the rest of the world, had been a point of fierce contention since
the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Israel
had demanded 24-7 surveillance footage, a requirement the Palestinians
rejected as infringement on their sovereignty.
"The
joint operation room means that Israel will be exclusively controlling
the movement of people on the borders," Ghol stressed.
Palestinian
sources further indicated that that International Middle East envoy
James Wolfensohn, who has threatened to quit because of frustration
over an impasse in negotiations over border crossings due to the
Israeli procrastination, was sidelined in the last-minute negotiations
over the crossing.
"Egyptian-Palestinian"
Nafez
Azzam, an Islamic Jihad leader, agreed that the Palestinian Authority
had bowed to the US pressures and approved the agreement in its
current shape.
He
said his group had demanded for a joint Palestinian-Egyptian control
over the Rafah crossing without any Israeli interference.
Azzam,
however, said the group will express its stance on the agreement once
it is officially informed with its content.
Sami
Abu Zehri, the spokesman for the resistance group Hamas, echoed a
similar stance.
"We
have been pushing for a Palestinian-Egyptian control over the borders
without any Israeli restrictions to allow free movement of the
Palestinian citizens," he told IOL.
Many
Palestinians believe the impoverished Gaza Strip would become a big
prison unless Israel agrees to a "safe passage" into the
West Bank as well for a new harbor and the reopening of Gaza airport.
Israel
still maintains tight control over the strip’s airspace, harbor and
crossings, turning it into an open-air prison.
Palestinians
hope Gaza will become the embryo of a much-hoped state. They want
their state to include the larger West Bank and occupied Al-Quds (Arab
East Jerusalem).
