Media coverage
Arabi21 · 2018-06-02
The report discusses a US-backed proposal to economically link the Gaza Strip to Egypt by establishing a free trade zone on the border, potentially relieving Israel of its responsibilities toward Gaza as an occupying power. It presents differing reactions: Hamas rejects any move that absolves Israel while expressing conditional openness to arrangements that break the blockade without prior restrictions, and economic and political analysts say signs of this economic linkage have already begun and could politically benefit Israel.
The report discusses a US-backed proposal to economically link the Gaza Strip to Egypt by establishing a free trade zone on the border, potentially relieving Israel of its responsibilities toward Gaza as an occupying power. It presents differing reactions: Hamas rejects any move that absolves Israe…
Palestinian political and media sources spoke of a proposal
led by the United States of America, which includes exempting Israel, as an occupying state, from its responsibilities
toward the Gaza Strip, by economically attaching it to the Egyptian state.
Observers believe that the U.S. administration, through this
step, seeks to begin implementing the Deal of the Century, by establishing a free trade zone on the border between
Gaza and Egypt, coinciding with the Egyptian army’s evacuation of the border area separating it from the Gaza Strip
over an area of 5 kilometers in northeastern Sinai, since the start of its military operation a year ago.
A Palestinian diplomatic source who preferred not to disclose his name
told "Arabi21" that "the U.S. administration informed the Palestinian Authority
of this proposal, and the Authority welcomed it,
provided that the free trade zone be under
joint responsibility between the Authority and Egypt, and that Hamas be excluded from any responsibility in controlling the resources
and revenues of the free trade zone."
Talk of this American step comes amid statements
made by Hamas’s chief in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, about Hamas having received contacts from
regional and international parties to look for a way out to break the blockade imposed on Gaza and work to improve
living conditions in Gaza, while denying that any final formula had been reached for an agreement that could be built upon
in the coming stage.
Hamas stipulates that the blockade imposed on Gaza be lifted,
through the establishment of an airport and seaport in Gaza dedicated to transporting individuals and goods, to avoid the repeated closure
of the Rafah and Beit Hanoun crossings, which has increased citizens’ suffering in travel, while Israel refuses to grant "Hamas" any of its previous demands, which may be acceptable to it
if an agreement is reached to establish a free trade zone between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, as it would constitute
a new Israeli maneuver in managing the blockade imposed on Gaza.
In this context, the deputy head of the Hamas parliamentary bloc
in the Legislative Council, Yahya Mousa, stressed that "the Hamas movement rejects any American attempt to exempt
Israel from its responsibilities toward the Gaza Strip as an occupying state, and therefore
the occupying state must abide by its legal and moral responsibilities toward Gaza, and any attempt of this
kind will be met with rejection by the movement, in respect for the sacrifices made by the Palestinian people in
their struggle with Israel over the past 70 years."
Mousa added in remarks to "Arabi21" that
"any arrangements regarding the establishment of a free trade zone with Egypt would be acceptable to us in Hamas,
because it would contribute to breaking the blockade imposed on Gaza, but without prior conditions on the possibility of
importing or exporting goods from and to the Strip, so that Israel does not continue to control the Strip’s economy
by pressuring Egypt."
The U.S. President’s envoy to the Middle East, Jason
Greenblatt, had revealed ten days ago discussions that took place between him and the director of Egyptian General Intelligence,
Major General Abbas Kamel, regarding finding ideas to alleviate the economic
and humanitarian hardship in Gaza, while the capital, Washington, witnessed in March
of last year an international meeting attended by 19 countries, including Egypt, to discuss the future of the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
## Indicators of acceptance of the proposal
For his part, the director of PalThink for Strategic Studies,
Omar Shaban, said that "the deterioration of living conditions in Gaza recently has become a challenge
facing the U.S. administration and the region in particular, and the Great March of Return has become a security challenge
facing the countries of the region because of the explosion of conditions in Gaza, and these marches have shown the State of Israel
in a grotesque image before the international community in its siege of two million citizens in the largest political prison in
the world."
Shaban explained in remarks to "Arabi21" that
"the proposal to establish a free trade zone between Gaza and Egypt would constitute an Israeli success, because it would exempt it
from any criticism regarding its blockade on Gaza, and thus Egypt would bear all legal responsibilities
toward the blockade to which Gaza has been subjected for 13 years."
For his part, Professor of Economics and Political Science at
Al-Azhar University, Samir Abu Mdlalleh, confirmed that "current indicators point to the fact that the proposal to link
Gaza’s economy with Egypt has been implemented in its first stages through Egypt’s permission, for about 8 months now,
for the entry of goods and commercial trucks through the Salah al-Din Gate adjacent to the Rafah crossing, and the Gaza Strip
has adapted to this reality, which may pave the way for Hamas to accept the proposal of a free trade
zone with Egypt."
The economic expert confirmed in remarks to "Arabi21"
that "the economic return of the free trade zone would be in favor of the Gaza Strip when compared
with Israeli policies toward managing the economic situation in Gaza, which stem from the Paris Economic Protocol,
which greatly shackled the Strip’s economy and deprived the Palestinians of tens of
billions that would have gone as revenues over a quarter of a century."
Text © Arabi21 — archived here with attribution to the source. — Machine translation for archival reference. — Original source