10-24-05,8:41am
GAZA, Palestine, October 24,2005 (IPC+Arab48)--The Quartet's special envoy for the disengagement Jams Wolfheson has criticized Israel for holding up agreements on opening Gaza Strip border crossings to the passage of people and goods and on improving Palestinian movemnet in the West Bank.
Israeli daily Haaretz published on its online edition today that Wolfhensonhad sent a letter last week to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and the foreign ministries of Britain, Russia and the United States.
'The Government of Israel, with its important security concerns, is loath to relinquish control, almost acting as though there has been no withdrawal, delaying making difficult decisions and preferring to take difficult matters back into slow-moving subcommittees,' Wolfensohn wrot.
Accompanying the letter, which was dated October 16, was a report written on October 17 regarding Wolfensohn's latest visit, from October 7-12.
He stated in the introduction of the report 'The Special Envoy was disappointed that none of the key movement issues has been resolved.'
Wolfheson aslo emphazised ' Without a dramatic improvement in Palestinian movement and access, within appropriate security arrangements for Israel, the economic revival essential to a resolution of the conflict will not be possible.'
In the letter he indicated that Israel is preventing the implementation of a proposal by Wolfensohn and the World Bank to introduce a temporary system for allowing people and goods to move between Gaza and the West Bank in convoys.
'Despite an earlier commitment in June to introduce convoys, governmnet of israel has not been willing to enter bilateral or trilateral discussions on their implementation,' Wolfensohn wrote.
It is mentioned that the Erez Checkpoint, linking Gaza Strip to Israel has been almost hermetically sealed to Palestinian traffic since the end of the disengagmnet. 6,500 workers were going to Israeli through Eretz checkpoint on daily basis before the disengagmnet.
In September the number of workers allowed acces to israel sharply went down to 100, on average, and to zero in October Wolfenhson said that the Karni commercila croosing crossing has also been either closed or particularly slow.
He opines that the convoy system should be used until mid-November. 'The system should be serious with a regular schedule and not two or three buses every few days,' he wrote.
'If all of us Palestinians, Israelis, our friends in Egypt and donors miss this opportunity for change, we will regret it for the next decade,' He warned.
He repeatedly urged Israel to engage in immediate talks on freedom of movement and the crossings, stating: 'I believe that economic activity is the greatest contributor to security for both sides.' Wolfensohn reitrated his calls on Israel to begin talks with the Europeans to define their third-party role. In his estimation, if it were not for Israel's tendency to transfer the few remaining issues in dispute to subcommittees, the Rafah crossing could be reopened quickly.
Agreement on linking the Gaza Strip to the West Bank could also be reached 'with 2-3 days of concentrated effort,' but six weeks have elapsed since Israel agreed to negotiate with the PA without results. 'We do not have the luxury of adopting such a leisurely approach and our Israeli colleagues have promised a greater sense of urgency' after the High Holidays, Wolfensohn wrote. As for the agreement on the operating of Rafah border crossing, the Quartet envoy said
'The Israelis have not agreed to accept the EU's generous offer to consider the role of 'a third party'' in supervising the Rafah crossing temporarily, the report stated. 'The Israelis cited the need for additional internal consultation.'
