Dispute Delays Pact on ‘Safe Passage’ for Palestinians

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have failed in another round of talks to end a security dispute, delaying the opening of the first Palestinian “safe passage” across Israel.

After four hours of negotiations late Sunday, spokesmen for both sides said the teams would meet again today.

“There were some suggestions made during the meeting, and I think we will finish in tomorrow’s session,” Jamil Tarifi, a Palestinian Cabinet minister on the negotiating team, said Sunday.

The route, which was to have been inaugurated Sunday, is meant to answer years of complaints that Israeli measures prevent Palestinians in the separate self-rule areas of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank from seeing friends and family.

Tarifi said two security issues still had to be resolved: who will issue magnetic passage cards that will allow Israel to monitor the identity of Palestinians using the passage, and Israeli powers of arrest along the route.

Once opened, the safe passage will run between Gaza and the southern West Bank near the city of Hebron. A second route between Gaza and the northern West Bank is due to be determined next week.

An interim peace deal signed in Egypt last month by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat paved the way for the negotiations on finalizing transit procedures for routes that were supposed to open in 1995.

Earlier Sunday, hundreds of Israelis protested plans to open the route, along which Palestinians will travel in Israeli-guarded bus convoys. “No safe passage to terrorists,” read a banner held high by Israeli demonstrators beside the road at Kiryat Gat in southern Israel.