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Israel hands over Rafah border crossing to Palestinians
Khaleej Times, (AFP)
30 June 2003
GAZA CITY - The Israeli occupation army on Monday handed over control of the southern Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt to the Palestinians, security sources said here. The Israeli occupation army also removed all major checkpoints in the Gaza Strip, allowing free movement for Palestinians along the trans-Gaza north-south highway for the first time in more than two years, an AFP correspondent and the army said.
Six Palestinian police officers were allowed to return to the Palestinian section of the border crossing, which had been taken over by Israeli troops shortly after the start of the Palestinian uprising in September 2000.
Under the 1993 Oslo accords, which granted a measure of autonomy to the Palestinians, the border crossing with Egypt was to be jointly managed by both Israel and the Palestinians, with each controlling a section of the crossing.
Although the crossing has been in principle open for movement between the two territories -- while being frequently closed by the Israelis for reasons that were rarely explained -- the Palestinian section has been under Israeli control for more than two years.
Troops reopened the three major checkpoints along the north-south road: the Netzarim junction, just south of Gaza City, the central Kissufim junction in Deir al-Balah, and the Guest House junction just south of Deir al-Balah.
The Salah Eddin highway, which runs the entire length of the Gaza Strip, had also been closed since shortly after the outbreak of the Palestinian intifada.
But Palestinian national security official Colonel Radwan Abu Khumsan accused Israel of violating the withdrawal agreement, saying the army had installed a gate at the Netzarim junction and was building a post just to the east of it.
A military source confirmed Israel had installed the gate at the Netzarim crossing and at the southern Guest House junction but said that they were only there for when Jewish settlers needed to use the road.
“It is not a checkpoint but a gate which the Palestinians control. At certain hours, when Israelis want to cross, they shut the gate to the Palestinians and allow them through,” the source said.
The military position at Netzarim was “just an outpost” and was not there to stop the movement of people and vehicles up the road.
The source said the only place on the highway where the Palestinians would have to use a bypass road was in the area of Kfar Darom settlement, where the road passed almost directly through the settlement.
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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