| Talkback | |
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Title: | Transport link between West bank and Gaza | |||
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| Name: | John Merritt | | |||
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| City: | Taunton | State: | Somerset, Uk | | |
| I was Member of the EU Border Assistance Mission, Rafah from Nov 05 - Aug 07. I helped set up the Liaison office at Kerem Shalom BCP, which consisted of One Palestinian Official, One IDF Officer and me or one of my EU BAM colleagues. Part of the Agreement (I have a copy) on Movement and Access in Nov 05 was also to establish a link between Gaza and the West Bank. Specifically: Bus convoys by December 15 Truck Convoys by 15 Jan 06. This never happened due to the Israelis dragging their feet. Hamas had not been elected at this stage so they cannot be blamed. Without this and a timetable of withdrawal of all settlers/settlements from the West Bank (as per the Gaza Operation in 2005)there is little that Messrs Blair and Mitchell can achieve except to tap dance around these main (showstopping) issues, and focus on Capacity building in the PA and the Security, Economic , Business, and Finance sectors, which does not need the input of both these "heavy weight", senior, players |
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