Egypt-Gaza-Israel Railway OKd
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EREZ CROSSING, Gaza Strip — Israel and the PLO agreed to construct a railroad that will link the Palestinians’ self-ruled Gaza Strip with Egypt and Israel’s Ashdod port, Palestinian officials said Sunday.
The announcement was made after a meeting in Gaza between senior Israeli negotiator Maj. Gen. Oren Shahor and Nabil Shaath, the Palestine Liberation Organization official in charge of planning for the governing Palestinian Authority.
“Both sides agreed to make a railway along the Gaza Strip to be connected later with Egypt in the south and to Ashdod in the north,” said Shaath’s spokesman Mohammed Waheidi.
He said that the project is expected to cost $200 million and that preliminary work on it is slated to begin this month.
“Both sides also agreed to build a 25-mile-long bridge between Gaza and the Hebron area,” Waheidi said.
He said the bridge, which would link Palestinian-ruled areas over Israeli territory, would provide for Israeli security needs.
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