U.S. aide to arrive in region to monitor Rafah crossing deal

Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, David Welch, is due to arrive Thursday for talks with officials in Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Welch is being dispatched to the region in order to monitor the implementation of the Rafah border crossing agreement brokered last month by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Welch will examine the operation of the Rafah crossing, where European Union inspectors are posted. He will also discuss upgrading the Karni and Erez crossings from the Gaza Strip to Israel as well as running trade convoys between Gaza and the West Bank.

Earlier this week, Israeli officials were notified that Rice was intent on sending a more senior envoy, State Department counselor Philip D. Zelikow, to follow up on the Rafah agreement. Rather, the administration decided to tap Welch, who made nearly 10 visits to the region in the past year.

The administration considers the agreement to be an important achievement and a litmus test of both sides' ability to function in an environment of cooperation. Senior officials in Washington say that both Israel and the Palestinians are making an effort to uphold their respective ends of the agreement, and the Americans are now trying to make sure that the election season will not grind negotiations to a halt.

Following meetings with their Israeli counterparts, American officials say they don't inspect any signs of an attempt to slow down the detailed process outlined in the agreement - and still expect to meet the approved deadlines for the next steps.

Palestinian security officials said that 10-15 wanted Hamas men have recently entered Gaza through the Rafah crossing, Israel Radio reported Friday.

The militants had either been expelled from Palestinian territories by Israel, or fled, fearing Israeli retribution. Some left before the first Palestinian intifada broke out in 1987.

Their ranks include Hamas founder Ahmed el-Malah and Fadel Zahar, a brother of Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar, whom Israel expelled to Lebanon in 1991.

Aides to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visited Cairo last week to ask Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to tighten oversight at the border, Israel Radio reported.

"I said three or four weeks ago that the Rafah agreement was destined to fail," MK Yuval Steinitz (Likud), chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, told Israel Radio. "We gave in to American pressure at some point."

Israel complained this week of difficulties in obtaining information from the Palestinians regarding those crossing through the Rafah terminal. Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz have threatened to exclude Gaza from the joint customs agreement. The move, which could devastate the Palestinian economy, would be activated "if it becomes clear that we cannot monitor as the events are taking place," Sharon said.

In meetings with Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat in Washington earlier this week, the Americans heard some complains on the lack of cooperation from Israeli officials on issues concerning the Palestinian elections. "I have written my Israeli colleagues seven times", said Erekat in a briefing at the Palestine Center after he met with Rice, "asking them to form the joint committee to begin the preparation to the election" - without a reply.

The administration believes that cooperation on this matter is necessary, but would not go into details as it is "very sensitive". This will be one of the topics Welch is going to deal with while in the area. "We were very clear on the election issue", says an administration official.

Rice, Abbas speak by telephoneRice conferred by telephone with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Friday. The two discussed the latest developments at the Rafah crossing on the Gaza-Egypt border during Abbas' 3-day state visit to Italy.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi met Abbas on Friday and said the Palestinian leader was the right man to seal a definitive peace agreement with Israel.

Berlusconi also praised Sharon for pulling troops and Jewish settlers out of the Gaza Strip and for leaving the rightist Likud party.

"It is undeniable that Sharon is a statesman of high calibre and great courage," Berlusconi said after meeting Abbas.

"I am also convinced that, on the Palestinian side too, the president is the man capable of bringing Palestine to a definitive peace with Israel and to an independent state," he said.

Sharon founded a new party after quitting Likud last week and opinion polls expect him to win a March general election.

"There is no doubt Sharon is a man capable of realising his convictions and I think that the Israeli people can choose peace," said Abbas.