The Israeli government has extended the closure of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the wake of last week’s double suicide bombing near Netanya that claimed the lives of 21 Israelis.
The Cabinet decided Sunday to continue to close off the West Bank for another week. As for the autonomous Gaza Strip, the government said the closure would remain in effect until the Palestinian leadership lived up to the security commitments spelled out in the self-rule accord it signed with Israel.
Much of Sunday’s Cabinet meeting focused on the adoption of security measures to fight the ongoing battle against terror. The government also continued to explore the possibility of erecting a fence that would separate Israel from the Palestinians. At least one Cabinet minister acknowledged that such a move would lead to a Palestinian state.
The Cabinet imposed the closure on the West Bank and Gaza within hours after the attack. The move, adopted repeatedly in the past following terror attacks against Israelis, prevents thousands of Palestinians from working at low-paying construction and agricultural jobs in Israel.
The Cabinet also approved bringing in 6,000 foreign workers to fill those jobs.
There was widespread support among the Cabinet ministers for maintaining the closure of the territories.
Among those voicing support for the move was Uzi Baram, the dovish tourism minister, who told Israel Television that he supported a permanent closure.
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was quoted by Cabinet ministers as saying at the meeting that the peace process with the Palestinians was at a crossroads and that “terrorism has become a strategic danger.”
Rabin said he would not want to be held responsible for a halt in the peace process, but added that the process cannot continue to be implemented without additional security measures.
The government stepped up pressure on the Palestinian Authority by saying that workers from the Gaza Strip will only be able to return to their jobs in Israel when the Palestinian Authority starts fulfilling its security commitments, including taking meaningful steps against tourists from the fundamentalist anti-peace movements Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the Jan. 22 massacre at Beit Lid Junction near Netanya.
The Cabinet also extended its freeze on negotiations regarding the release of additional Palestinian prisoners and the opening of safe passage routes between the Palestinian self-rule areas of Gaza and the West Bank Jericho enclave.
During the Cabinet session, Rabin authorized Police Minister Moshe Shahal and Finance Minister Avraham Shohat to head teams that would examine the security details and economic ramifications of establishing a fence around the West Bank to separate Israelis and Palestinians, a proposal Rabin floated last week in the wake of the Beit Lid attack.
Agriculture Minister Yakov Tsur said a separation of the two peoples could lead to a Palestinian state.
“Today `separation’ has security implications, in barring [Palestinian] workers,” he said. “But separation could be in the Palestinians’ own interest as well. In the long term, it will mean setting borders, removing settlements, and, indeed, the formation of an independent Palestinian entity.”
In another effort to beef up security, Shahal proposed the deployment of dogs along the border with the West Bank of prevent Palestinian terrorists from infiltrating into Israel.
Shahal said the dogs would be used for patrols and for additional security at roadblocks.
Israel has in the past avoided using guard dogs because of their association with Nazi tactics.
There is also a taboo on using dogs for police work in the Arab world, where Muslims consider dogs to be “unclean.”
But Shahal’s spokesman, Rafi Levy, said such measures, which were once rejected as being too extreme, “are now necessary.” He said authorities would begin using the dogs this week.
During the Cabinet meeting, Meretz Minister Shulamit Aloni lashed out at Rabin for his recent hard-line statements. She said they serve only to set back the peace process.
Rabin retorted that Aloni was busy serving Palestinian interests, while he was occupied with Israeli ones.
Rabin added that Israel is not ready to seek peace at “any price or condition.”
In the wake of the most recent attack, Rabin has indicated that he would slow the pace of talks with the Palestinians. He told the Likud Knesset faction last week that Palestinian elections or a redeployment of Israeli forces from Arab population centers in the West Bank would be unlikely in the near future.
Both moves were scheduled to take place months ago under the terms of the self- rule accord.
At a recent meeting, Rabin reportedly gave Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat the option of holding Palestinian elections now, with Israeli soldiers pulling back for election day only, or beginning negotiations for an interim agreement that would eventually lead to a full Israeli redeployment to agreed-upon lines.
Rabin told the Likud Knesset members that Arafat had chosen the second alternative.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
