Israel opens highway for peace

Israel returned the Gaza Strip’s main highway to Palestinian control on Monday ending a 30-month blockade and advancing a fragile US-ba...

Israel returned the Gaza Strip’s main highway to Palestinian control on Monday ending a 30-month blockade and advancing a fragile US-backed peace plan.

Some 50 Israeli armoured vehicles left the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun after US Presidential adviser Condoleezza Rice met both sides to press them to begin implementing the peace roadmap after three weeks of stubborn bloodshed that almost shredded it.

Israel bans BBC over broadcast claiming N-arms

NICOSIA: Tel Aviv will sever ties with the BBC as a mark of protest against a repeat broadcast on non-conventional weapons said to be existing in Israel. The programme, broadcast for the first time in March in Britain, was re-run on Saturday on BBC World channel.
The boycott decision over the weekend was made by a forum of representatives from the Prime Minister’s Office, the Foreign Ministry and the Press Office. This means no government assistance to BBC producers and reporters, and no interviews by officials to the network. The Press Office will make it difficult for BBC employees to obtain press cards and work visas. — ANI

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A taxi loaded with seven passengers was the first Palestinian vehicle to drive along the road after Israeli tanks departed. Gaza police hoisted a Palestinian flag over a makeshift outpost along the 45-km highway.

‘‘From the bottom of my heart, I support this attempt at peace but I don’t think it will last because there are so many enemies on the Palestinian side. It will fail,’’ Israeli Cabinet Minister Yosef Lapid told Channel One television.

Israel transferred to Palestinian control the main road except for one Army checkpoint outside Kfar Darom, a Jewish settlement. The disengagement pact requires Palestinian police to fill the security gap left by the Army’s departure by preventing attacks by militants.

Meanwhile, gunmen shot dead a Bulgarian truck driver on Monday despite the ceasefire, Israeli military sources said. A local leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade said his group was behind the attack near the West Bank city of Jenin. (Reuters)

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