PEACE & SECURITY | Creating a more stable world
16 January 2009
United States, Israel Working to End Arms Smuggling into Gaza
Security measures seen as critical to a durable cease-fire, Rice says
Washington — The United States and Israel have reached agreement on security measures that will eventually help bring a durable cease-fire to the Gaza crisis, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says.
Rice and visiting Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni signed a memorandum of understanding January 16 in Washington that includes provisions for monitors to help stem arms and explosives smuggling into Gaza through a network of tunnels in the Sinai Peninsula. Rice said it is likely that Britain, France and Germany will join the monitoring effort.
The memorandum brought Israel and Hamas, the terrorist group that controls the Gaza Strip, one step closer to a cease-fire after more than three weeks of nearly continuous violence.
“There are a number of conditions that need to be attained if a cease-fire is to be durable ... so that it can really endure,” Rice said at a State Department briefing January 16. “Among them is to do something about the weapons smuggling and the potential for resupply of Hamas.”
While the memorandum with Israel is bilateral, Rice said she believes that European allies are also working on similar arrangements with Israel.
Egyptian officials are working with Israeli representatives and a Hamas delegation to solidify a cease-fire agreement. According to news reports, that cease-fire agreement calls for an immediate halt to all fighting for 10 days, though Israeli forces would remain in place in Gaza and border crossings would remain closed until full security arrangements could be implemented. Israel has demanded that Hamas stop firing rockets into southern Israel and that a halt to arms smuggling take place.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was in the Middle East January 16 trying to assist efforts to end the hostilities, but he told reporters it could take several more days.
Israel launched an offensive on Gaza, which lies between southern Israel and Egypt along the Mediterranean Sea, on December 27 after Hamas began a series of rocket attacks on Israel. Gaza has been under control of Hamas since June 2007, when its forces ousted the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, which has maintained control over the West Bank territories and is the recognized government of the Palestinian territories.
Rice said that the United States has “wanted to have an immediate and durable cease-fire, and we've been working aggressively toward that goal. We are hoping that as the elements of durability begin to come into place that the need for continued operations will cease. We know that after all, Hamas is responsible for this.”
