Sunken road or sealed train? How to connect Gaza
Reuters
Date: 06-29-05
By Cynthia Johnston
JERUSALEM, June 29 (Reuters) - Israel is considering linking the Gaza Strip and West Bank with a train, bus convoys or even a sunken motorway with no off-ramps after it withdraws from the narrow coastal strip starting in mid-August.
Barring an outlet, the impoverished strip faces isolation that could plunge it deeper into economic crisis and political turmoil -- and raise the security risk for Israel.
But Israel does not want any "safe passage" to threaten its security.
Officials on both sides say they agree that once the pullout is finished, a process expected to take weeks, they must find a way transport people and cargo between Gaza, home to 1.3 million Palestinians, and the West Bank, home to another two million.
Israel has proposed running a non-stop train between Gaza and the southern West Bank, although there is no agreement on the idea with the Palestinians, an official in Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres's office said.
She said Israel wanted to ensure it bore no responsibility for Gaza after the pullout, especially for jobs and trade, and had an interest in allowing links to the outside world.
"If you take a broader view of security, then of course you have a tremendous interest in making sure that you have a successful Gaza economy," the official said.
"It is very clear that once Israel disengages from Gaza, you can't just disconnect Gaza from everywhere."
A railway would cost $175-200 million, take at least three years to build, and would not ease Palestinian movement in the short run, a Western diplomatic source familiar with the project said. Any link would run in Israel for at least 35 km (20 miles), the rough distance between the West Bank and Gaza at the closest point.
Two other options, an elevated road and a tunnel, have been largely ruled out as too expensive. The diplomatic source said those would cost billions of dollars.
PALESTINIANS PREFER SUNKEN MOTORWAY
The Palestinians prefer a sunken motorway, which would run inside a trench and not have any off-ramps along the route, saying it is more cost-effective, could be built faster and affords greater flexibility. But they have stopped short of rejecting a train outright.
A senior Israeli government official said Israel also was willing to consider the sunken motorway idea.
In the meantime, both sides are looking into the possibility of running escorted bus convoys to the West Bank until a longer-term link is ready. Palestinian internal movement within the West Bank is also hampered by roadblocks.
The Israelis are planning also to build a rail link for cargo between Gaza and Israel's port at nearby Ashdod, where they are considering installing a dedicated dock for the Palestinians, the official in Peres's office said.
But Palestinians say trains are simply not on their agenda and are suspicious of Israel's motives. They prefer to open their own port to avoid economic dependence on Israel, which captured Gaza in the 1967 Middle East war and worked for years to integrate it with the Israeli economy through trade and jobs.
"They are saying they want to relinquish control over the Gaza Strip, but at the same time they are putting in place measures to ensure they have long-term continued control, economically at least," said Diana Butto, legal adviser to the Palestine Liberation Organisation.
The World Bank said last year that hardship could increase drastically in Gaza if Israel sealed borders to labour and trade when it pulled out, or if it cut water and electricity supplies. Israel has indicated it may allow Palestinians to open a seaport, and Palestinians have said they may use rubble from demolished settler homes to build it if Israel leaves the debris behind after it evacuates all 21 Jewish settlements there.
But Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has so far rejected calls to allow Palestinians to rebuild Gaza's airport, ruined during 4-1/2 years of a Palestinian uprising.
Source
FAIR USE NOTICE
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. |
|