By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
Nov 17, 2005
Israeli media analyst Dr. Aaron Lerner says Israel has forfeited any say on its own security by signing on to the ?Agreement on Movement and Access? in the face of an international full-court press led by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice earlier this week.
The deal, says Lerner, leaves Israel virtually powerless to act or influence decisions should it detect a security breach at the Gaza-Sinai border or off the coast of Gaza.
The first part of the agreement stipulates that the Palestinian Authority will ?consider information? provided by Israel on ?persons of concern? seeking to enter Gaza via the Sinai Peninsula, but that it is under no obligation to honor those concerns. The PA is to have the final decision on such matters.
On Wednesday, the PA security officer tasked with operating the Rafah Crossing between Gaza and Egypt indicated figures such as Damascus-based overall Hamas leader Khalad Masha'al will not be prevented from entering Gaza, despite the danger they pose to Israel.
In another part of the agreement, Israel has promised ?to assure donors that it will not interfere with operation? of the planned Gaza sea port.
Lerner explains that this ?may be interpreted? to force Israel to not carry out its own inspections of vessels off the Gaza coast even if the promised security arrangements at the port are ?a shambles.?
Furthermore, Israel has committed itself to establish together with and under the eyes of the Bush administration ?an agreed list of obstacles to movement? in Judea and Samaria.
Israel regularly uses military roadblocks and checkpoints to disrupt ?Palestinian? terrorist efforts to mass murder its Jewish citizens. According to the agreement, it will now have to coordinate such non-lethal preventative security measures with Washington.
The government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed repeatedly prior to Israel's ?disengagement? from Gaza that it would not relinquish control over the Gaza-Sinai border, and that the move would in fact provide Israel a freer hand to combat terror in Judea and Samaria.
But between Sunday evening and Tuesday morning, Rice managed to reduce what remained of Israel's resolve and extract the security concessions required by the gentile nations for ?peace.?
Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chair Yuval Steinitz said the quick resolution of the matter was the result of Israel being ?pressured into opening up the [Gaza] crossings before we were ready; we gave in to pressure from the Americans.?
Prime ministerial candidate Binyamin Netanyahu told the committee that the decision ?to grant the Palestinians a safe harbor in Gaza and a safe crossing from Gaza to the West Bank constitutes a danger to Israel.?
?The result will be that plenty of weapons will find their way to Gaza, Kassam and mortar rockets will be transferred to Judea and Samaria and fired at Israel from the region,? he warned.
CBN News Thursday quoted former Israeli ambassador and veteran analyst Yossi Ben-Aharon as saying the agreement looks good on paper, but not in practice.
?It may sound plausible, workable -- I beg to differ,? said Ben-Aharon. ?We will really not be able to prevent the importation of people, dangerous people, and arms. That is why I think we have made a mistake, for which we will pay a heavy price.?
Ben-Aharon pointed out that the Gaza Strip, in just the few weeks since the Israeli pullout, has become a haven for terrorists.
?What we have monitored now, our intelligence apparatus, is a change for the worse in that Hizballah and the bin Laden organization have succeeded in penetrating and providing the local people with more sophistication?Gaza is going to become a second southern Lebanon,? Ben-Aharon said, according to the CBN report.
The news network said that, following this agreement and others that may follow, critics like Ben-Aharon were warning that ?Israel could be facing one of the most dangerous times in its history.?