Did Israel Agree to “Security Hiatus” For 2005 Harvest in New Agreement?
Excerpts:
Shlomo Dror, spokesperson for the Coordinator of Activities in the Territories, told IMRA today that during the calm years 600 to 650 trucks passed through Karni a day because Israel was able to ease security inspections. At this time Karni is not operating 24 hours a day but even if it did it would not be possible to reach such a volume.
According to Dror, given the equipment available at this time (Palestinian attacks destroyed some scanning equipment that is now on order) the volume of trucks crossing Karni could be increased substantially by easing such security measures as:
– checking containers for double walls on a sampling basis rather than all containers (terrorists reached Ashdod Port by hiding inside a double walled container).
– double stacking for scanning in a trade-off of the efficacy of the scan for the volume that can be scanned in a day.
Dror noted that Israel also wants the Palestinians to take a more active role in making the Palestinian side of the crossing a “sterile area” so that terrorists cannot approach the area to attack the Israeli side.
Dror pointed out that the Palestinians have objected to the operation of security devices that would make the passage of people considerably more efficient and hassle free. When Israel tried to introduce scanners at Rafah that do not require people to be subject to physical inspection, the Palestinians launched a campaign against the equipment, claiming that it was cancer causing – this despite the fact that the very same equipment is being used in various airports around the world and that the radiation that the device emits is a miniscule fraction of the radiation emitted by a cellular telephone.