|
Envoy urges Israel to reopen Gaza borders
(AP)
Updated: 2005-10-25 10:29
A top Mideast envoy criticized Israel in especially tough language for moving
too slowly on negotiations to open Gaza's borders, saying the country is
behaving almost as if the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip never happened.
Without dramatic progress soon, a rare chance to revive Gaza's shattered
economy — and the peace process — will be lost, James Wolfensohn said in a
letter to the U.N. secretary general and other international mediators obtained
Monday by The Associated Press.
Violence, meanwhile, quickly escalated between Israel and the Palestinians
after Israeli troops killed Luay Saadi, a top Palestinian fugitive, and a close
accomplice in a pre-dawn shootout in the Tulkarem refugee camp in the West Bank.
Saadi, the leader of Islamic Jihad's military wing in the West Bank, was blamed
for the deaths of 12 Israelis in attacks in recent months.
Islamic Jihad threatened revenge and launched at least two homemade rockets
from Gaza into Israel, causing no injuries. Israel, which said it would not
tolerate any attacks from Gaza since it pulled out of the territory last month,
responded with an artillery assault on open fields in northern Gaza, the army
said. There were no reports of injuries from the artillery.
Early Tuesday, Israeli aircraft also fired missiles at a building in the
northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun used by Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades militants
and a second building housing an Islamic Jihad welfare institution in the Rafah
refugee camp in southern Gaza, the Israeli army said. The Rafah attack left a
65-year-old woman and a 4-month-old baby wounded with moderate injuries and
lightly wounded three others, Palestinian health officials said.
Detained Palestinians sit on the ground next
to an armored vehicle as Israeli troops stand guard during a military raid
in the West Bank town of Tulkarem, Monday Oct. 24,
2005.[AP] | Israel closed the Rafah crossing into Egypt, Gaza's main link to the outside
world, shortly before it withdrew from Gaza. It also has severely restricted the
passage of Palestinian laborers and goods in and out of Israel, the main
Palestinian export market, since an earlier wave of rocket attacks right after
the pullout.
Israeli officials say the measures are solely because of security
considerations.
In his letter, Wolfensohn, a special envoy working on
behalf of the United States and other foreign mediators, acknowledged such
concerns but accused Israel of unnecessary delays in restoring movement across
the borders. He said the stalling is preventing him from moving on to larger
reconstruction efforts, such as tourism, agriculture and industrial projects.
|
