(Ha'aretz) Danny Rubinstein - Last week some 150,000 people (according to Palestinian media estimates) crossed the Gaza-Egypt border (the Philadelphi route). It was as if all the arguments, proposals, and arrangements that Israel had raised regarding the border had never existed. Control of the border crossings is perhaps the most important element of political sovereignty. Control over who enters and leaves is the symbol of political independence. Not by chance did the Oslo Accords stipulate that Israel would retain full control over the border crossings into Palestinian territory in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The ones who will now determine what actually happens on the Gaza-Egypt border will be the two sovereign powers on either side of the border: the governments of Egypt and the Palestinian Authority.
2005-09-23 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive