JERUSALEM – A top Mideast envoy criticized Israel in especially tough language for moving too slowly on negotiations to open Gaza’s borders, saying the country is behaving almost as if the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip never happened.
In his letter to the U.N. secretary general, James Wolfensohn, a special envoy working on behalf of the United States and other foreign mediators, accused Israel of unnecessary delays in restoring movement across the Gaza-Egyptian border and the passage of Palestinian laborers and goods in and out of Israel. He said the stalling is preventing him from moving on to larger reconstruction efforts, such as tourism, agriculture and industrial projects.
Israel’s Army Radio said Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz would travel to Egypt on Wednesday for talks on the border issue, and officials said the Israeli Cabinet would discuss the matter Sunday.
Violence, meanwhile, quickly escalated between Israel and the Palestinians after Israeli troops killed Luay Saadi, a top Palestinian fugitive, and a close accomplice in a pre-dawn shootout in the Tulkarem refugee camp in the West Bank. Saadi, the leader of Islamic Jihad’s military wing in the West Bank, was blamed for the deaths of 12 Israelis in attacks in recent months.
Islamic Jihad threatened revenge and launched at least two homemade rockets from Gaza into Israel, causing no injuries. Israel, which said it would not tolerate any attacks from Gaza since it pulled out of the territory last month, responded with an artillery assault on open fields in northern Gaza, the army said. There were no reports of injuries from the artillery.
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