PA donor states: Israel must relinquish control over Rafah

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By Akiva Eldar, Haaretz Correspondent

Israel must transfer control over the Rafah crossing to the Palestinian Authority, and allow regular passage of people and goods between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, according to a final document on the disengagement plan drafted by the PA's donor countries, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

The position paper was presented to the Quartet's special envoy for the disengagement, James Wolfensohn, who visited Israel last week, and was submitted to Israel and the PA for comments.

The World Bank announced several months ago that aid for economic rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip would only be forthcoming if restrictions were lifted on the entry and exit of goods and businesspeople to and from Gaza.

According to legal opinions, continued control over the border crossings would leave Israel in the status of occupier, even after withdrawing the settlers and army, and it would therefore bear formal responsibility for a humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip.

The position paper rejects Israel's proposal to relocate the border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip from Rafah to the Kerem Shalom region. The document also rejects Israel's stance that transfering control over goods entering Gaza from Egypt would entail severing the Gaza Strip from the customs envelope encompassing the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The document states that Gaza's inclusion in the customs envelope is consecrated in the Paris Protocol, by which Israel is bound according to international law.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/587232.html