Border Breach Could Let Israel Cut Gaza Link, Say Officials

Israeli officials yesterday suggested the newly open border between Gaza and Egypt offered a chance of Israel completely severing its ties with the small strip of crowded Palestinian land.

The deputy defense minister, Matan Vilnai, said the rush of Palestinians across the border - after explosives were used to breach the dividing wall on Wednesday - was an opportunity for Israel to "disconnect" from Gaza. He said Israel wanted to relinquish responsibility for the supply of water, power and medicine to Gaza.

"We need to understand that when Gaza is open to the other side we lose responsibility for it. So we want to disconnect from it," Vilnai said. "We want to stop supplying electricity to them, stop supplying them with water and medicine, so that it would come from another place."

His comments sparked a sharp reaction from Egyptian officials, who said that the border would be re-sealed in the coming days. However yesterday tens of thousands of Palestinians were still pouring back and forth across the border, buying up goods in Egypt that are not available or much more expensive in Gaza. "The border will go back as normal," said an Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman, Hossam Zaki. "The current situation is only an exception and for temporary reasons."

Even Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls Gaza, said it expects to re-establish the official border crossing.

Israeli officials have often spoken of their intent to separate themselves completely from the Gaza Strip, which Israel captured and occupied in 1967. In 2005 Israel withdrew its settlers and soldiers but the international community still regards Gaza as occupied territory because Israel has effective control over the Palestinians there. It controls the population register as well as Gaza's sea space and air space, prevents large-scale use of the harbor and any use of Gaza's one airport, conducts frequent military operations in Gaza and controls all crossings into Israel.

The Israeli defense minister, Ehud Barak, who was at the World Economic Forum in Davos yesterday, said his government was still considering a major invasion of Gaza. Israel has imposed a full closure of the Gaza Strip, restricting fuel and aid supplies, and mounted several military operations to stop militants firing makeshift rockets into southern Israel.

"Probably we will find ourselves there," Barak told the Associated Press. "We are not rushing to reconquer Gaza, but we will not remove any option from the table when it comes to the security of our citizens."

When asked about plans for Israel to separate itself from Gaza, he said: "I don't go too far in my interpretation of this."