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The Palestine Papers
Qurei: "Occupy the crossing"
Top PA negotiator offers to allow Israel to re-occupy the Philadelphi corridor
on the Gaza-Egypt border.
David Poort Last Modified: 25 Jan 2011 19:34 GMT
The Philadelphi crossing forms the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip [EPA]
The Palestinian Authority (PA) had pleaded with the Israeli government to
re-occupy the Philadelphi corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border, in order to
tighten the siege on Hamas-run Gaza, The Palestine Papers show.
Israel seized control of the Philadelphi corridor after the Israeli-Egyptian
peace treaty of 1979 and evacuated the narrow route in September 2005 as part
of Israel's unilateral Gaza Disengagement plan.
Israel used the 14km-long corridor as a buffer zone - controlled and patrolled
by Israeli forces - to prevent the movement of illegal materials and people
between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
Since the Hamas takeover of Gaza in 2007 the Philadelphi route has been
controlled by Hamas. After the Israeli-Egyptian siege on Gaza was put in place
in June that year, a massive smuggling industry developed through the tunnels
that were dug under the Philadelphi corridor in and near the border town of
Rafah.
On January 23, 2008, masked gunmen demolished the steel wall alongside the
Philadelphi route in Rafah and hundreds of thousands Gazans entered Egypt to
buy food and supplies.
Less than two weeks later, in a meeting in West Jerusalem, Ahmed Qurei, the
former Palestinian Authority prime minister, asked Tzipi Livni, the former
Israeli foreign minister, if Israel could re-occupy the Philadephi corridor to
seal the border and cut off supplies to Hamas.
Livni: We'll not give legitimacy to Hamas and we'll stop the smuggling of
money and arms from Egypt. Did the opening of the borders appear to be a
victory of Hamas?"
Qurei: Yes, they appeared to have ended the siege.
Livni: The Egyptians don't do enough, and we're sure they can do much more.
Qurei: What can you do about the Philadelphi Crossing?
Livni: We're not there.
Qurei: You've re-occupied the West Bank, and you can occupy the crossing if
you want.
Livni: We can re-occupy the Gaza Strip. What is your position?
Later that month, during another meeting on the issue of security, Livni seemed
willing to retake control of the corridor after Israel and the PA would reach a
peace agreement.
Livni: Regarding Philadelphi, whether or not it was a mistake to leave it.
If indeed it was a mistake, since Egypt is not effective like Jordan, can our
agreement provide for Israeli presence in Philadelphi?
Qurei: Palestine will be independent but can co-ordinate. Agreement should
reflect that with a commitment to security. Therefore regarding parameters I
believe security is part of regional vision. Other neighbours don't have a
problem -- regional security is interconnected.
Keeping pressure on Hamas
A recurring theme throughout The Palestine Papers is the PA's collusion with
Israel to keep the pressure on Hamas.
Related
Erekat: "I can't stand Hamas"
For Fatah, the Annapolis process seemed to be as much about crushing Hamas as
ending Israel's occupation.
Ali Abunimah: Cutting off a vital connection
Palestinian officials were often more concerned with applying pressure to Hamas
than easing a humanitarian crisis.
Even before the takeover in 2007, the PA was desperately trying to keep control
over the Gaza Strip by pleading for more weapons from the US, as is reflected
in a meeting between Saeb Erekat, the chief PA negotiator, and Keith Dayton,
the then-US security co-ordinator for Israel and the PA in May 2006:
Erekat: The PG [Presidential Guard] is in dire need of guns and ammunition.
Particularly with the situation in Gaza, this issue is critical. [Keith Dayton
replied that he will raise this point with Israelis particularly in meeting
with Ephraim, (Israeli deputy defence minister) tomorrow]. We need to
re-establish security liaison with Israel. This is the best way to maintain
security.
After the Hamas takeover in 2007, the fighting capabilities of the movement in
the West Bank were crushed. The PA then started to crack down on the civilian
infrastructure of the movement, as is shown in a meeting between Yoav
Mordechai, the the head of the Civil Administration in the Occupied
Territories, and Hazem Atallah, the PA police chief in the West Bank, in May
2008 in Tel Aviv.
In one of the most candid examples of the PA's bid to tighten the noose around
the Gaza Strip in order to punish Hamas, Erekat shows his disagreements with
Israel and Egypt on their Gaza policy. In a meeting with George Mitchell, the
US Middle East envoy in October 2009, Erekat appears frustrated that not enough
was being done to maintain the siege on Gaza:
Erekat: Senator, I am just briefing you on my meetings with the Israelis. I
am not giving you a message. They were good meetings. I told Amos Gilad
[Israel's chief negotiator]: you are Egypt's man. You know the Egyptians. 11km!
[Referring to the length of the border with Gaza]. What's going on with you and
the US, the $23 million [given by the US Agency for International Development
to prevent tunnels] and ditches - its business as usual in the tunnels - the
Hamas economy...Amos Gilad started laughing!
Mitchell: What did he say?
Erekat: They don't want to say anything negative about Egypt. It's their
strategic relation with them. But they make me pay the price. I am no longer
there. I am not alone responsible for the coup d'etat in Gaza.
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