World

Mideast: Safe Passage Opens

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

October 25, 1999 / 5:34 AM EDT / CBS

Delivering a shot of confidence to the Mideast peace process, Israel on Monday opened an agreed-to safe passage route linking West Bank and Gaza Palestinians. Becuase of Israeli security concerns, the opening had been delayed for several weeks.

For years, only Palestinians with work permits were allowed to enter Israel or travel between the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Frequent closures at the behest of Israel's defense establishment have at times virtually sealed off the Palestinian territories.

But with the safe passage route open, most Palestinians will be allowed to cross through Israel for 1 1/2 to two hours to travel the 28-mile route between the West Bank and Gaza, where the Palestinians hope to establish their own independent state. Those considered by Israel to pose security risks can travel the route twice a week on special buses manned by Israeli security personnel.

The long-awaited land link will boost confidence in the peace process, residents say. It also will allow residents of poverty-stricken, overcrowded Gaza to seek jobs in the more prosperous West Bank.

Visiting British Foreign Minister Robin Cook, who is scheduled to travel the route Tuesday, said the opening Â"demonstrates that the peace process is ... providing real benefits to the people of the region.Â"

Hard-line Israeli opponents of the peace process warn that Palestinian extremists could use the route to infiltrate into Israel and attack civilians.

The passage has been part of peace agreements between the Israelis and Palestinians since 1995, but its implementation was always delayed because of Israeli security concerns. Most recently, it was scheduled to have opened Oct. 1 as part of the latest interim peace deal.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has said that in a final peace deal, the route will be replaced by an elevated highway so Palestinians can travel between the two areas without entering Israel. Such a highway would give the Palestinians the territorial contiguity necessary to join Gaza and the West Bank in a unified state.

For now, hundreds of Gazans have received special magnetic cards permitting them to use existing Israeli roads to travel from Gaza's Erez Crossing to Tarkumiya, near the southern West Bank city of Hebron. The route was scheduled to open today with a ceremony at Erez.

For many, it will be a previously unavailable chance to travel beyond Early Monday, hundreds of Palestinians, mostly young men, waited in line at the Erez Crossing to make their trip through Israel to the West Bank. Travelers carried duffle bags or backpacks and many smiled with anticipation.

Â"Today, we can smell the wind of freedom,Â" said Rashed Eloyan, 19, who was born in the southern Gaza town of Khan Yuis and has never left the coastal strip.