Subscribe to Print Edition | Wed., April 02, 2008 Adar2 27, 5768 | | Israel Time: 02:17 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Rosner's Domain Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Advertising Books Arts & Leisure Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File

Defense Minister backtracks on border crossing control By Barak Ravid and Avi Issacharoff Defense Minister Ehud Barak yesterday softened his opposition to a proposal to transfer control of the border crossings between the Gaza Strip and Israel to representatives of the Palestinian Authority government headed by Salam Fayyad. The change, made at the request of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, is considered a major shift in Israel's policy on this matter. "When conditions have matured in the future for an end to the Qassam rockets and the terrorism and a lessening of the smuggling of weapons from Sinai into the Strip, we will be willing to consider easing the situation at the crossings into Gaza through cooperation with representatives of the Fayyad government," said the statement issued by his office. Advertisement A senior Israeli government source said that the change in Barak's position is probably also related to the discussions that Amos Gilad, head of the Defense Ministry's political-security bureau, is holding in Egypt on a "package deal" that would include a halt to rocket attacks from Gaza, containment of the arms smuggling into Gaza and reopening the border crossings. Rice and Barak discussed the crossings and the general situation in Gaza during their meeting in Jerusalem on Sunday, and again at a tripartite meeting that included PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. She repeated her request that the defense establishment soften its stance on the border crossings and look favorably on Fayyad's proposal to transfer control of them to PA government officials. Rice also asked Barak to issue a public statement on this matter. The defense minister agreed, and following a meeting with the visiting Czech defense minister yesterday, his office issued its statement. The statement was unusual in itself, because until now, Barak has avoided public statements about the crossings in general and the Fayyad proposal in particular. Fayyad has been promoting his proposal for opening the Gaza crossings for several months, and has received broad support from the international community, especially the United States. According to his proposal, PA officials who are affiliated with neither Hamas nor Fatah would assume responsibility for the crossings and reopen them for use, possibly with international assistance. Opening the crossings to regular transfers of goods would improve the lot of the civilians in Gaza. In addition, Fayyad's proposal would enable the PA to gradually return to the Strip, for the first time since it lost control of it to Hamas in June last year. But despite American and PA requests, the Israeli defense establishment adopted a tough stance toward the Fayyad proposal, arguing that it would ultimately serve to bolster Hamas. Thus Barak's statement yesterday is considered to be a significant reversal in Israeli policy on this matter, and most likely stemmed from U.S. pressure. Ironically, Israeli sources noted, the defense establishment's strong opposition has made Fayyad begin to have doubts about the plan himself. And the situation has been further complicated by the absence of complete accord on this issue between Fayyad and PA President Mahmoud Abbas. Meanwhile, Abbas announced yesterday that he intends to meet Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on April 7, thereby ending the hiatus in their regular biweekly meetings that followed the intense fighting in the Gaza Strip nearly six weeks ago. During a press conference with Rice in the Jordanian capital of Amman, Abbas added that he believes it is possible to reach a comprehensive peace agreement with Israel in 2008. Rice also met yesterday with the heads of both sides' negotiating teams, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and former Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qureia. The two briefed the secretary of state on developments and difficulties in the talks and discussed ways of expediting the negotiations. Bookmark to del.icio.us   WHO knows? The WHO says Israel lets Gazans die in 'avoidable tragedies'. Friendly faces Google, Facebook and Yahoo heads will attend a J'lem technology summit.

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