Khatib Says Israeli Actions Demonstrate “Disdain” for US-Brokered Agreement

Seven weeks after it signed the Agreement on Movement and Access with the Palestinian Authority (PA), Israel is reneging on its commitments, according to PA Minister of Planning Ghassan Khatib. Minister Khatib, the PA Minister charged with coordinating with Israel following its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, said Israel’s actions “reveal the disdain with which the Government of Israel considers the Agreement that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Quartet Special Envoy James Wolfensohn brokered. Since the Agreement was considered a step forward on the path to the peaceful vision of two viable states– Israel and Palestine– living side by side, this also betrays Israel’s disdain for that vision.”

The Agreement, whose stated purpose is: “To promote peaceful economic development and improve the humanitarian situation on the ground,” was signed by Israel and the PA on November 15, 2005. Since then, however, Israel has repeatedly stalled, deferred or cancelled meetings with the PA to discuss the Agreement’s implementation and has openly refused to meet agreed deadlines.

According to the Agreement, bus convoys between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank were due to begin operating on December 15, 2005. The Agreement also commits that a “new and additional scanner will be installed and fully operational by December 31 [2005],” at the Karni crossing in order to facilitate the crossing of 150 trucks per day carrying Palestinian exports, in addition to ensuring the export of all agricultural produce from the Gaza Strip. Furthermore, Israel committed to reducing obstacles to the movement of Palestinian people and goods within the West Bank “to the maximum extent possible” by December 31, 2005. None of these commitments have yet been honored by Israel.

Minister Khatib contrasted Israel’s commitments under the Agreement with its recent establishment of a 'free-fire zone’ in the northern Gaza Strip. “Instead of easing Palestinian conditions following its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, Israel is now flaunting its continued occupation of the Palestinian territory by indiscriminately and illegally bombarding the northern Gaza Strip,” he said. Attacks that do not discriminate between civilians and combatants are prohibited under international humanitarian law.

The economic rejuvenation of the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), and particularly the Gaza Strip, is recognized by the international community to be necessary to ameliorate the humanitarian crisis gripping the oPt and reduce violence. Increasing the freedom of movement for Palestinian goods and people within and between the occupied Gaza Strip and West Bank is considered essential for economic revitalization. In its December 2005 report, for example, the World Bank reiterated that “[a]n unfettered flow of people and goods between Gaza and the West Bank is needed to link the two territorial elements of the Palestinian economy, and to lay the basis for viable statehood.”

Citing the US’s role as key to the successful brokering of the Agreement, Minister Khatib appealed for the US and the Quartet to ensure that Israel complies with its commitments. “If we are to see progress towards peace, the US and the international community must demonstrate to Israel that it may not flagrantly violate agreements to which it has committed itself,” he said. “The implications of such violations are grave. If Israel doesn’t act soon, the devastated Palestinian economy will have no chance of recovery, and hope will be lost. It is imperative that Palestinians see real evidence of economic progress if we are to progress on the path for peace.”