Well this is positive news:
After marathon all-night negotiations, Secretary of StateCondoleezza Rice announced a comprehensive agreement between theIsraeli and the Palestinian governments Tuesday designed to ease theGaza Strip's isolation by allowing more reliable access for its goodsand people to Israel and the outside world.
The dealsets out the terms of operation for Gaza border crossings used to movecargo and people, resolving a deadlock that has frustrated a team ofinternational negotiators for weeks. It also establishes a system ofbus convoys to shuttle Palestinians between Gaza and the West Bank, thetwo territorial components of what is envisioned as a futurePalestinian state.
The agreement allows the Palestinians to begin work on Gaza's seaport,and assures donors that Israel will not interfere with its operation.It leaves unclear when the port would open and under what guidelines,but work to get it up and running will take at least three years,Palestinian officials said. The deal says discussions on renovating andreopening Gaza's international airport will continue.
Bush certainly won't be the first leader to glance at an unfriendly domestic landscape and decide it's time to make peace in the Middle East. But so long as he's pursuing genuinely worthwhile advances like this one -- Palestinian economic development is critical to any sort of long-term stability -- I'm all for supporting his new hobby.
