Rice Pushes for Gaza Crossing Agreement

Under intense lobbying from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators edged toward an agreement early today on opening a border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

Talks extended well into the predawn hours as the two sides debated the central sticking point: how much control Israel would retain over the crossing now that it had withdrawn from the Gaza Strip and handed the territory to the Palestinians. In a sign of the Bush administration’s desire for a breakthrough on the issue, Rice delayed her planned departure for Asia to continue talks.

The crossing, at Rafah along Gaza’s southern border, is viewed by Palestinian leaders as an essential gateway for Gaza’s 1.3 million residents and a potentially critical port for trade. It is the only direct opening from Gaza to the rest of the Arab world.

Rice on Monday met separately with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. After meeting with Abbas, she said the two sides had made headway, but not enough.

“With some will, and some creativity, agreement should be within sight,” she said.

A senior State Department official who declined to be identified said that, as the negotiations progressed, the issue broadened beyond Rafah to include border crossings linking Gaza with Israel that have also been closed or restricted since Israel’s pullout two months ago.

Monday evening, Rice left Jerusalem briefly, flying to Amman, Jordan, to offer condolences and express solidarity with King Abdullah II in the wake of last week’s hotel bombings. After meeting the king and laying a wreath on the Radisson hotel’s steps, Rice returned to Israel to continue talks.

Rice said international envoy James Wolfensohn, who has mediated talks on border crossings and other economic issues since the Israeli pullout, had put forward new U.S. proposals to bridge differences between the Israelis and Palestinians. The proposals call for the presence of European Union monitors at Rafah.

But differences remain over how much control the monitors would exercise and whether Israel should maintain even indirect oversight of border movement through a database of crossers or surveillance cameras.

“We need to augment the Palestinian [security] weakness without insulting the Palestinians,” said an Israeli government official who declined to be identified because of the subject’s sensitivity. “We know they will stop somebody carrying [weapons], but if someone big in a militant group walks across with $50,000 in a satchel, that’s five suicide bombers.”

Palestinians fear that Israelis want to block entry of travelers who were previously arrested by Israel or suspected of militant activity.

“They want us to be the police of Israel,” said a senior Palestinian official, who declined to be identified by name.

The struggle over Rafah underscores the difficulties of resolving even comparatively minor points on the path to the much larger goal of negotiating peace and establishing an independent Palestinian state.

As with so many aspects of Israeli-Palestinian relations, the biggest barrier to resolving the crossing issue appears to be mutual mistrust.

After Israel pulled its last soldiers from Gaza’s southern border, Palestinian and Egyptian security guards were overwhelmed as thousands of residents rushed into Egypt to visit relatives or buy discount goods.

The episode unnerved Israeli authorities, who have only allowed the Rafah crossing to open sporadically since then.

Palestinians say the lack of progress on border issues is crippling the economy and undermining public support for Abbas.

Agriculture is Gaza’s economic mainstay, and Palestinians complain that produce is rotting because of delays at the Karni crossing, the main commercial portal between the Gaza Strip and Israel. Diana Buttu, an advisor to Abbas, said outbound shipments through Karni had dropped from an average of 500 truckloads a day in recent years to about 20 since the withdrawal.

After touring the Karni cargo terminal Sunday, Wolfensohn threatened to leave the region if the issue of borders remained unresolved. He called the next 72 hours vital.

In a speech Monday evening in Jerusalem, his frustration seemed to overflow.

“If you want to blow each other up, I have a nice house in Wyoming, and in New York and in Australia, and I will watch with sadness as you do it,” he said, according to Associated Press.