MIDDLE EAST: Gazans have been given hope of a brighter economic future after a long-awaited deal on opening the Palestinian enclave's border crossings was clinched yesterday following the intervention of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Announcing the agreement in Jerusalem yesterday, Dr Rice said it was "intended to give Palestinian people the freedom to move, to trade, to live ordinary lives".
Gaza's borders with Israel and Egypt have been almost completely shut since Israel withdrew all Jewish settlers from the Strip last August, stifling exports to markets in Israel and beyond and preventing the movement of people.
It is widely expected that a revival of Gaza's devastated economy will stabilise the coastal strip and aid wider peace efforts.
Dr Rice had extended her stay in Jerusalem by a day to attend marathon discussions with both sides which continued throughout most of Monday night.
"I have to say, as a football fan, sometimes the last yard is the hardest," she said of the tortuous final hours of negotiations, the culmination of 20 weeks of often rancorous talks facilitated by the West's special envoy, James Wolfensohn.
As part of the deal, Palestinians will for the first time take charge of an international border, with the reopening of Gaza's Rafah crossing with Egypt scheduled for November 25th.
Israel's insistence on live video monitoring of the Rafah terminal was a major sticking point for Palestinians, who viewed it as a breach of their sovereignty.
Yesterday's compromise means Israel will receive live video transmissions and can raise objections about travellers, but the Palestinians will be in charge of the crossing, working alongside a team of up to 70 EU monitors headed by a general from the Italian carabinieri.
By December 15th, Palestinians will be allowed to travel between the West Bank and Gaza Strip in bus convoys that pass through Israel.
Construction work will also begin on a Mediterranean seaport in Gaza, and Dr Rice encouraged Israel to allow reconstruction of Gaza's airport, badly damaged by Israeli attacks.
Meanwhile, an Israeli army captain accused of riddling the body of a teenage Palestinian schoolgirl with bullets as she was lying on the ground already injured by army fire was acquitted by a court yesterday.
The officer, identified only as Capt R, had been charged at an army court with manslaughter and illegally firing a weapon at Iman al-Hams (13) along Gaza's southern border with Egypt in October 2004. He was also charged with obstruction of court proceedings after asking his soldiers to alter testimonies they provided to military investigators.
In a separate case, Omri Sharon (41), the son of Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, was convicted by a court yesterday after pleading guilty to charges that he took part in illegal fundraising for his father's 1999 election campaign.