Israel agrees to evacuate flashpoint road
Israel agreed in principle yesterday to evacuate a road along the Gaza-Egypt border that has been a major flashpoint of violence in recent years, Vice Premier Shimon Peres said after a Palestinian official warned that continued Israeli military patrols there would invite attacks.
Israeli officials said in the past that soldiers would need to remain in the Philadelphi corridor after the planned Gaza Strip pullout this summer to prevent weapons smuggling.
But a new spirit of cooperation in the region following last month’s election of Mahmoud Abbas as Palestinian leader could make a pullback more palatable.
The Cabinet was also expected to approve Sharon’s Gaza withdrawal plan. Under the Cabinet resolution, the most isolated Gaza settlements – Netzarim, Morag and Kfar Darom – would be evacuated first, followed by four northern West Bank settlements, then the main southern Gaza settlement bloc of Gush Katif and finally three northern Gaza settlements.
The Philadelphi road has been perhaps the most volatile strip of land during the past four years of violence. Israel, which has uncovered a series of weapons smuggling tunnels running under the border, guards the corridor with watchtowers armed with heavy machine guns and vehicle patrols.
Palestinian gunmen often attack Israeli positions from the Rafah refugee camp, adjacent to the road. The army has responded by demolishing rows of hundreds of houses near the road.
Also yesterday, the Haaretz daily newspaper published a proposed revision to the route of Israel’s separation barrier that runs closer to Israel’s boundary with the West Bank but also puts two major West Bank settlement blocs on the Israeli side of the barrier. Israel’s Cabinet is scheduled to vote on the new route tomorrow.
Palestinians say the route, which dips into the West Bank, is an Israeli attempt to take land they want for a future state. Israel says it needs the barrier to block suicide bombers and other Palestinian attackers who have killed hundreds of Israelis.
The new route runs much closer to the West Bank boundary but still would include between 6% and 8% of West Bank land on the Israeli side, Peres said. It also would include the large settlement blocs of Maaleh Adumim and Gush Etzion on the Israel side, according to Haaretz.
In July, the UN world court ruled that barrier of concrete walls, razor wire and trenches was illegal and must be dismantled. Israel ignored the advisory ruling.
