Israel Discovers, Destroys Tunnel
It may be Passover, one of the holiest days on the Jewish calendar, but Israeli troops were on the move.
Soldiers discovered a weapons smuggling tunnel between Egypt and the Gaza Strip early Tuesday and blew it up, the army said.
It was the seventh such tunnel to be discovered since the beginning of the year, reports CBS News Correspondent Robert Berger. About 80 smuggling tunnels have been found since the outbreak of the current round of Israeli-Palestinian fighting in September 2000.
Palestinian security officials said they were unaware of a tunnel being blown up.
Israeli troops patrol a narrow strip between Egypt and the southern end of the Gaza Strip. The tunnels go under the patrol road and emerge in the Rafah refugee camp on the southern end of Gaza. Since 2000, Israeli troops have repeatedly raided Rafah and razed scores of homes near the border.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said this week that even after a planned Israel withdrawal from Gaza, Israel would hold on to the patrol road, at least initially, to prevent weapons smuggling.
Israelis were observing the weeklong Passover holiday under tight security. Police and soldiers were out in force across the country, amid concerns that Palestinian terrorists could try to mar the Passover holiday. But fears of terrorism haven't stopped Israelis from getting out. Resorts are full at the Sea of Galilee, the Golan Heights and the Mediterranean, while those who like to rough it are camping in the Negev desert. Berger reports Police have instructed everyone with a licensed gun to carry it — just in case.
An Israeli withdrawal from some Palestinian territories could be the key to re-launching the stalled Middle East peace process, David Welch, the U.S. ambassador to Egypt, told Nile TV Tuesday.
"If there is an Israeli government decision to withdraw from some places, perhaps that's the key to unlock the process," he said.
Welch also criticized the Palestinian Authority for not having done enough to fight terror.
Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat is prepared to include the militant Hamas group in a new Palestinian leadership organization that would function alongside the Palestinian Authority, a Palestinian newspaper reported Monday.
Hamas, however, has not responded to overtures and not said it would cooperate with the PA.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Monday the United States remains opposed to exiling or killing Arafat.
"Our views are very well known to Prime Minister Sharon," McClellan said. "We have made it clear that sending him into exile or otherwise dealing with him is not part of the solution to the situation in the Middle East."
Nearly two-thirds of Israelis support Sharon's Gaza withdrawal plan according to a new poll, while a strong majority has given up the concept of settling all the Biblical Land of Israel. Sharon's plan calls for dismantling 21 Gaza settlements. Another poll shows that 73 percent of Palestinians support Sharon's plan, but only 34 percent believe he'll carry it out.