Weekly Commentary: Extending Egyptian plan for clear zone on Gaza border
Dr. Aaron Lerner Date: 2 August 2007

There's good news.

The Egyptians are planning to bulldoze a 150 meter clear zone along their
border with Gaza in an effort to stop the smuggling into Gaza.

That's a start.

A small one albeit. But a step in the right direction.

And there is even better news.

The cost of the current operation is so apparently miniscule (the Associated
Press reports payments of compensation of $1,800 for a home and 15 acres)
that a budget of $5 million would be enough to compensate everyone within a
kilometer of the border at a rate many magnitudes greater (and thus less
subject to local resistance).

What a bargain.

That's chump change as compared to the $80 million US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice wants to invest in the "moderate" PA gunmen (aka "security
forces").

It is not only a cheap solution. It is probably the only workable one given
the Olmert team's refusal to send troops to the retake the Philadelphi
Corridor and the innate inability of third parties to effectively monitor
and stop the smuggling.

Adding a 1,000 meter sterile zone on the Egyptian side would radically
change the nature of the tunneling operations.

The cost, manpower and equipment needed to run a tunnel spanning such a
distance is magnitudes greater than the current tunneling operations, making
these projects considerably easier to detect.

Would Egypt go for extending their 150 meter project to 1,000 meters?

That's not the operative question.

The operative question is why Israel isn't suggesting it - or even offering
to bankroll it.

Let the Egyptians explain why they are unwilling to implement a project that
would facilitate their compliance with their treaty obligations. A project
that, if implemented properly, would not only help facilitate regional
stability but also improve the lives of Egyptian Rafah residents relocated
into new and more spacious accommodations.

Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(Mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-3-7255730
INTERNET ADDRESS: imra@netvision.net.il
Website: http://www.imra.org.il