Olmert, Barak, Livni Okay Pharoah's anti-Smuggling Plan

Almanar

Readers Number : 453








23/01/2009

A few days following their defeat against the Palestinian Resistance in the Gaza strip, the Israeli "war trio" reportedly approved security arrangements with Egypt aimed at thwarting flow of arms into the besieged strip, apparently seeking to achieve through diplomacy what they have failed to achieve militarily.

Indeed, the limited Israeli cabinet, consisting of Israeli PM Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni approved Thursday night the security arrangements with Egypt aimed at preventing the smuggling of arms into Gaza. The arrangements mostly concern technical matters and Egyptian operating methods to stop the smuggling from within its borders.

(Cartoon by Carlos Latuff)

The technical details of these arrangements were agreed upon during recent discussions between Amos Gilad, head of the Defense Ministry's Diplomatic-Security Bureau, and officials in Cairo, including Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman.

Livni and former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently signed a "memorandum of understanding" intended to assure that Hamas fighters gunmen will not be able to rearm following the ceasefire in Gaza. The memorandum lays out the measures that are to be taken by the US, Egypt and other countries to this end.

During Thursday night's meeting the limited cabinet was briefed on the various measures that will be taken in Gaza and the surrounding area to prevent the flow of arms through underground tunnels along the Philadelphi route.

On Sunday, Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin told the Israeli cabinet that Israel's offensive on Gaza failed to wipe out Hamas's network of arms smuggling tunnels below the border with Egypt which Palestinians will now likely rebuild. Speaking at the end of the weekly cabinet meeting, Diskin said he feared the situation along the border, known as the Philadelphi route, would return to the pre-war status quo unless agreements with the US and Egypt on greater surveillance are followed through.