Description

Kerem Shalom crossing to the Gaza Strip. Photo by Ilan Assayag

Palestinian workers waiting at the Erez border crossing on their way from the Gaza Strip to work in Israel. Photo by AP

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By Barak Ravid for Haaretz | Dec. 8, 2013 | 3:53 PM |

Israel’s refusal to allow Gaza to use a scanner machine donated by Netherlands donated to screen exports from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank will be on the agenda at a meeting Sunday night between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

Rutte had been scheduled to attend a festive dedication of the X-ray machine at the Kerem Shalom crossing during his visit. Speaking before Israeli and Palestinian peace activists on Sunday, the Dutch prime minister expressed grave disappointment at Usrael's refusal to let the X-ray machine be used. "I don't understand this decision," Rutte said.

Dan Yakobson, a member of the Palestinian-Israeli Peace NGO Forum who attended the meeting with Rutte, said the Dutch premier had sounded surprised and even mortified by the way the issue of the scanner had been handled.

He said that under the circumstances, Rutte had wondered at the security concern: “After all, the X-ray machine was donated by the Netherlands and placed at the Kerem Shalom crossing precisely because of Israeli security concerns,” Yakobson quoted Rutte as saying. "I have no idea what is behind this decision, and I will ask Netanyahu about it during our meeting this evening.”

Yakobson said the Dutch prime minister asked the peace activists if they thought Netanyahu had changed his mind on the Palestinian issue and if he genuinely wanted to make peace. They didn't know, the participants told him, according to Yakobson. However, they said, the fact that Israel accepted the European Union stipulation that no Horizon 2020 research funding would go to Israeli research enterprises connected with territories beyond the 1967 borders shows that the government favors ties with Europe over the settlements.

“We told him that the conduct regarding the scientific cooperation agreement showed that with internal Israeli assertiveness and enough international assertiveness, things can move,” Yakobson said. “We recommended stepping up international involvement on the Israeli-Palestinian matter and even considering the model the world powers used in the deal with Iran in Geneva and applying it to negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.”

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By Barak Ravid for Haaretz
| Dec. 8, 2013 | 2:31 PM |

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has canceled a gala ceremony planned for Sunday to inaugurate a new container scanner donated by the Netherlands to Israel’s border crossing with the Gaza Strip, due to Israel’s refusal to view the high-tech machine as grounds for allowing exports from Gaza to the West Bank to resume.

The dispute over this issue, which erupted about a week ago, is weighing on Rutte’s impending visit to Israel, which was supposed to have taken place in a positive atmosphere.

Rutte is slated to arrive Sunday, and is expected to ask Israel to reconsider its position when he meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday night. Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans, who will accompany Rutte, is similarly expected to raise the issue of exports from Gaza at his meeting with Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon.

The dispute began last week, when the Dutch Foreign Ministry asked Israel’s ambassador to The Hague to forward a request that Jerusalem take advantage of the new scanner to permit the resumption of goods exports from Gaza to the West Bank. The Dutch ambassador to Israel made a similar request of the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem.

A senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official said the Dutch request surprised Jerusalem, coming as it did on relatively short notice. Nevertheless, the ministry passed it on to Ya’alon’s office. After a brief discussion, Israel decided to reject the request.

Defense Ministry officials explained that for security reasons, Israel wants to isolate the West Bank from the Gaza Strip, and allowing goods from the Strip into the West Bank would contradict this policy. Dutch officials countered that the new machine was supposed to provide a solution to Israel’s security concerns about Gazan exports. Nevertheless, the Defense Ministry remained adamant.

Israel’s refusal infuriated the Dutch government, which informed Jerusalem that if so, Rutte intended to cancel the gala ceremony at the Kerem Shalom border crossing.

The Dutch Foreign Ministry confirmed the details of this report, saying the main purpose of the new scanner was to enable the resumption of exports from Gaza to the West Bank, as well as to Europe and the rest of the world, by providing a solution for Israel’s legitimate security concerns.

“The container scanner at the Kerem Shalom crossing will potentially facilitate and ease the exports of products from Gaza to markets in the West Bank, Europe and internationally in a way that addresses Israel’s legitimate security concerns,” the ministry said in a statement. “It is in place and ready to use. The Dutch Government strongly feels that positive, practical measures are needed to stimulate the ailing Gazan economy and to alleviate the worsening humanitarian situation for the people in Gaza. We were given to understand that the accompanying easing of export procedures that we would like to see in this regard, are subject of unfinished internal policy deliberations by various parties, including the government of Israel with whom this issue has been discussed on various occasions, at different levels.”

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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The Dutch Prime Minister cancelled Saturday a planned visit to the Gaza Strip to inaugurate a state-of-the-art security scanner at the Karem Shalom crossing with Israel, according to Israeli media.

The cancellation of the event is due to the Israeli government's refusal to allow Gaza's imports and exports to resume, even with a security scanner, Haaretz reported.

The news of the cancellation follows conflicting reports on Saturday regarding whether or not the ceremony would take place. Palestinian Authority Director of Border Crossings Nathmi Muhanna announced that the ceremony would take place, but a Palestinian Foreign Ministry source later denied it.

The dispute over this issue, which erupted about a week ago, is weighing heavily on Rutte's impending visit to Israel, the Haaretz report said.

Rutte is slated to arrive Sunday, and is expected to ask Israel to reconsider its position on the scanner when he meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday night.

Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans, who will accompany Rutte, is similarly expected to raise the issue of exports from Gaza at his meeting with Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon.

The dispute began last week, when the Dutch Foreign Ministry asked Israel's ambassador to The Hague to forward a request that Jerusalem take advantage of the new scanner to permit the resumption of goods exports from Gaza to the West Bank, according to the report.

The Dutch ambassador to Israel made a similar request of the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem.

A senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official said the Dutch request surprised Jerusalem, coming as it did on relatively short notice. Nevertheless, the ministry passed it on to Ya'alon's office. After a brief discussion, Israel decided to reject the request.

Defense Ministry officials explained that for security reasons, Israel wants to isolate the West Bank from the Gaza Strip, and allowing goods from the Strip into the West Bank would contradict this policy.

Dutch officials countered that the new machine was supposed to provide a solution to Israel's security concerns about Gazan exports. Nevertheless, the Defense Ministry remained adamant.

Israel's refusal infuriated the Dutch government, which informed Jerusalem that if so, Rutte intended to cancel the gala ceremony at the Kerem Shalom border crossing.

The Dutch Foreign Ministry confirmed the details of this report, saying the main purpose of the new scanner was to enable the resumption of exports from Gaza to the West Bank, as well as to Europe and the rest of the world, by providing a solution for Israel's legitimate security concerns.

"The container scanner at the Kerem Shalom crossing will potentially facilitate and ease the exports of products from Gaza to markets in the West Bank, Europe and internationally in a way that addresses Israel’s legitimate security concerns," the ministry said in a statement.

"It is in place and ready to use. The Dutch Government strongly feels that positive, practical measures are needed to stimulate the ailing Gazan economy and to alleviate the worsening humanitarian situation for the people in Gaza."

"We were given to understand that the accompanying easing of export procedures that we would like to see in this regard, are subject of unfinished internal policy deliberations by various parties, including the government of Israel with whom this issue has been discussed on various occasions, at different levels," the statement added.

The Gaza Strip has been under a severe economic blockade imposed by Israel since 2006.

The blockade has severely limited the imports and exports of the Gaza Strip and has led to frequent humanitarian crises and hardship for Gazans.
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1 ) Simple / Proposal
08/12/2013 17:44
The Netherlands should put that scanner in Rafa on the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, so Dutch Premier Minister can visit Egypt to inaugurate the scanner. In that case everybody would be happy - D