Israel and the Palestinians, under strong US pressure, reached an agreement Tuesday to open Gaza's borders starting Nov. 25, a step vital to turning the economically crippled territory into a success in the wake of Israel's withdrawal.
The deal, struck during a marathon negotiating session run by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, gives Palestinians control over a border for the first time, allowing them to travel freely into Egypt and to export their goods. Israel will be able to see who comes and goes, with the help of European monitors, but Palestinians will retain final authority.
"This agreement is intended to give Palestinian people the freedom to move, to trade, to live ordinary lives," Rice said.
The deal provides a much-needed boost to Gaza's economy and strengthens Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas ahead of Jan. 25 parliament elections. Gaza is seen as a test for how the Palestinians would handle an independent state.
Violence could still derail the deal, as it has countless other agreements between the two sides. But officials were upbeat, with Rice lauding it as a "big step forward" in Israeli-Palestinian relations badly damaged by five years of bloody fighting.
Negotiators immediately began preparing for the gritty work of sorting out the details of the border agreement, which will also release tens of millions of dollars in international aid for rebuilding Gaza.
The deal marked the most intensive US involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in years, and there were hopes that its success would encourage Rice to become more personally involved in the future.
Israel and the Palestinians were deadlocked after five months of talks when Rice decided Monday to postpone her trip to Asia to personally mediate in her Jerusalem hotel suite.
Getting only two hours sleep, Rice huddled alternately with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators; at one point a laptop was passed around, with each side typing proposed changes. The agreement was finally reached at 10:05 a.m. Tuesday.
"What the Bush administration should learn from this ... is that in order to move the Israelis and Palestinians into an agreement on something, you need the big guns from the administration, the ones who can speak for the president, to twist arms," said Israeli political analyst Yossi Alpher. "I would hope that Rice would get an appetite for this and want to come back."
The deal allayed Palestinian fears that Gaza would become sealed off as a virtual prison following Israel's withdrawal from the territory in September after 38 years of occupation.
"I think that the agreement will satisfy the majority of the Palestinian people," said Palestinian Cabinet Minister Mohammed Dahlan. "At least for now, travelers are not going to see any more Israelis. No Israeli is going to control their lives."
Under the agreement, the Rafah crossing on the Gaza-Egypt border would tentatively open Nov. 25 under the supervision of European monitors.
Israel had originally demanded veto power over the crossing. In the deal, Israel will receive live transmissions via closed-circuit TV from the crossing, and can raise objections concerning travelers, but the Palestinians will have the final say.
"I think we reached an arrangement where there is a proper balance between our security needs and the Palestinians' economic needs," said Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, who led the Israeli negotiating team.
The agreement set important precedents, with Israel allowing Palestinians to take control of a border for the first time and agreeing to rely on a third party to provide security monitoring.
The deal also commits Israel to allow at least 150 daily truckloads of cargo to be exported from Gaza into Israel by year's end and 400 truckloads a day by the end of 2006. Only a few truckloads now make it through the border.
Palestinians will be able to travel across Israel between the West Bank and Gaza in bus convoys — presumably escorted by Israeli troops — starting Dec. 15.
Israeli and Palestinian negotiators will meet with international mediator James Wolfensohn on Wednesday to deal with the logistics involved in the agreement — including setting up a liaison center, creating procedures for inspecting vehicles and training customs officials — with the help of the United States and the World Bank.
Disputes could crop up in those talks as well, but Rice said she would remain involved and wanted progress reports every two weeks.
International officials hope the agreement will allow them to begin working on donor-funded projects intended to provide immediate benefits to Gaza, including a Japanese plan to repair Gaza's main road, a US water pipeline project and a World Bank sanitation program.
Soon after the announcement, the Rafah crossing was temporarily opened under a prearranged agreement, to allow patients, students and some other Palestinians who were in Egypt to return home.
Palestinian border officials, watched by four European monitors, searched the travelers' luggage by hand and ran it through security scanners. Those found smuggling in cigarettes either had them confiscated or were forced to pay customs duties.
Those crossing at Rafah welcomed the deal, but remained skeptical it would be implemented.
"If it is implemented fully, life will be revived and people will feel a real change," said Samir Khadri, a 42-year-old businessman returning to Gaza from China.
(Chindaily.com via agencies November 16, 2005)
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