Rice Brokers a Deal to Open Crossing on Gaza-Egypt Border

After grueling all-night negotiations, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice clinched a deal Tuesday between Israel and the Palestinians providing for the passage of people and goods in and out of the Gaza Strip.

Under the accord, the Palestinian Authority will control an international frontier for the first time, that between Gaza and Egypt. The crossing at Rafah, at Gaza’s southern tip, will provide the 1.3 million Palestinians living in the impoverished coastal territory with a longed-for conduit to the outside world.

“This agreement is intended to give Palestinian people the freedom to move, to trade, to live ordinary lives,” a weary but buoyant Rice said at a news conference after the accord was completed in marathon predawn negotiations.

Although the broad outlines of an agreement on Rafah had been in place for some time, Israel and the Palestinian Authority had squabbled for weeks over the remaining details, souring the atmosphere in the wake of Israel’s late-summer withdrawal of soldiers and settlers from Gaza.

Rice delayed her departure from the region by a day to make a last push to broker the accord.

“I have to say as a football fan, sometimes the last yard is the hardest, and I think we experienced that today,” said Rice, who told reporters she had gotten about two hours of sleep.

The pact was a bit of good news for the Bush administration, which is under siege domestically and facing mounting criticism over the Iraq war. On a higher level, progress in Gaza is seen as crucial to President Bush’s central foreign policy goal in his second term: expanding democracy, especially in the Middle East.

The U.S. and Israel characterized the pact as not only significant in itself, but also as a possible prelude to progress on the U.S.-backed “road map” peace plan.

“There is an understanding that in order to implement the agreement, we are going to be restoring good channels of cooperation with the Palestinians, and that cooperation can form, I think, a basis for bigger and better things in the future,” said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev.

Palestinian officials also hailed the accord, but remained critical of what they called Israeli foot-dragging in finalizing it. The two sides embarked on talks on the Gaza crossings nearly six months ago, as Israel prepared to end its 38-year occupation of the seaside strip.

Mohammed Dahlan, the Palestinian minister of civil affairs, called the agreement “an important step not only in opening up the Gaza Strip to the wider world, but in improving movement for Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory in general.”

Many Gazans want to visit relatives in the Egyptian part of the town of Rafah, which straddles the border, or are eager to shop for goods at much lower Egyptian prices. Rafah is also a hub for ground transport to Cairo, and the small airport of El Arish is about 30 miles west.

The accord calls for the Rafah crossing to open Nov. 25, with Palestinian and Egyptian border officials controlling their respective sides as well as oversight by European monitors. Israel will have no troops along the Gaza-Egypt frontier, but Israeli representatives will be able to conduct surveillance via a closed-circuit television link between the crossing and a liaison office.

In December, the two sides will inaugurate bus convoys to carry Palestinians between Gaza and the West Bank, passing through Israeli territory. Many extended Palestinian families have been split for most or all of the last five years of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which sharply curbed travel between the two territories.

Rafah has long been notorious as a smuggling route for weapons, explosives and Palestinian militants, and Israel insisted on the video link so it could watch for suspicious activity. If the Israelis want someone stopped at the crossing, they can put the request to Palestinian forces and appeal any rebuff to the European monitors.

“We feel the proper security arrangements are in place, and we will certainly be quite diligent in preventing problems,” said David Baker, an official in Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s office.

The agreement could improve the standing of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in advance of parliamentary elections to be held Jan. 25. The Islamic militant organization Hamas is fielding a slate of candidates, and if the daily lives of Gazans do not begin to improve, popular resentment could translate into more support for the group.

Hamas was quick to criticize the accord. “We declare our dismay at the Palestinian Authority’s approval of this pathetic agreement and trying to market it as a major achievement,” the group said in a statement issued in Gaza.

But some Palestinians seemed heartened by the agreement. Motawi Taybi, a 50-year-old Palestinian from Gaza’s Shahti refugee camp, rushed to Rafah in hopes the crossing might open ahead of schedule.

“I trust our wise leadership in this matter,” said Taybi, who wants to travel to Egypt to be at the bedside of his sick brother. “I will be sleeping here until the crossing is open.”

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Special correspondent Fayed abu Shammalah in Gaza City contributed to this report.