Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today accused the Palestinian Authority of involvement in the blocking of main roads in Gush Katif at the end of last week, and announced that Israel would not accede to Palestinian demands to open additional roads for vehicles.
Netanyahu stressed at the cabinet meeting that the incident was a serious one because of the Palestinians’ use of force, and that Israel would not accede to their demands over the opening of traffic routes. He warned that Israel would never make concessions to violence. He said he had ordered that attempts should be made to end the confrontation without bloodshed. Nevertheless, he remarked that neither he nor the Minister of Defence nor the Chief of Staff was aware that that the Palestinians would be permitted to travel on the route they demanded and which was the cause of the confrontation.
Minister of Defence Yitzhak Mordechai said in response that the agreement was achieved with his knowledge. He said it had been agreed with the Palestinians that they would temporarily be allowed to use the traffic routes which had sparked the dispute, and Israel had not agreed to allow their permanent use. He stressed that the aim was to avoid bloodshed and to try to reach understandings through negotiation.
Following the incident, several ministers and Knesset members demanded Israeli reprisals if similar incidents should recur. Minister of Transport Shaul Yahalom said that, in similar circumstances in the future, consideration should be given to closing the Erez industrial zone, and prohibiting workers from entering Israel from Gaza.
The Gush Katif road incident arose at the Mubarak-Hussein-Arafat summit in Cairo.
Before their meeting began, observers estimated that they would try to formulate a joint stance which would enable an Arab summit meeting to be convened.
The Cairo summit was arranged against the background of the standstill in the peace process and Israeli measures in Jerusalem. Before the tripartite meeting, Mubarak and Arafat held their own meeting.
At the end of the meeting, they called on Israel to fulfill the peace agreements and meet all its obligations. They also called for the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. In their joint communique, they also rejected the government’s decision to expand the boundaries of Jerusalem.
The head of the Palestinian security service in Gaza, Muhamad Dahlan, today warned of a general conflagration in Gaza. He said the paralysis in the peace process was causing increased tension, and that in last week's Gush Katif incident, a flare-up and the use of live fire were prevented mainly thanks to the good relations between Israeli and Palestinian commanders. However, he said he thought such good relations would not prevent flare-ups in the future, as long as the peace process was at a standstill.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on July 5, 1998