Quartet reveals Gaza development plans

By Andrew Beatty

Date: 02/06/05

The Middle East quartet is to unveil a series of measures to accompany the planned withdrawal of Israeli troops and settlers from Gaza, it has emerged.

These include the rebuilding and reopening of Gaza International Airport. Under plans being discussed by the EU and the other members of the quartet - the UN, US and Russia - the projects will help develop trade facilities, the rebuilding and reopening of ports and the airport, increase capacity at border crossings and strengthen the Palestinian administration ahead of disengagement.

Although the Gaza airport was built in 1998 with international financing, it was closed by the Israeli authorities two years later at the beginning of the second intifada. It now lies in ruins.

Israel has said it will withdraw its troops at the beginning of August and analysts say this could restore internal mobility within Gaza, boosting trade and economic activity in the strip.

The measures are being co-ordinated by the quartet's special envoy for Gaza disengagement James Wolfensohn.

In April the quartet appointed the former head of the World Bank to co-ordinate the international community's response to the disengagement, which Europeans insist must be part of the Road Map peace plan.

As head of the bank, Wolfensohn had been a vocal advocate of rebuilding the Palestinian economy through concrete measures aimed at boosting growth and easing trade.

In June last year the World Bank estimated that by 2006 the lifting of internal closures and external boarders in the West Bank and Gaza could reduce poverty levels to 64% of the population, from 72% under the status quo.

According to diplomats, the plans are to be presented by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in early June.

Article reports that the Middle East quartet - comprising the UN, the EU, the US and Russia - was to unveil a series of measures to accompany the planned withdrawal of Israeli troops and settlers from Gaza. These were to include the rebuilding and reopening of Gaza International Airport.