US holds talks to avert Gaza food shortage

RAMALLAH, West Bank, Mar 19 (Reuters) Israel and the Palestinians decided at US-sponsored talks today to pursue new border crossing arrangements to ward off an impending humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, a participant said.

The meeting was held after Palestinians in Gaza reported shortages of bread and other staples as a result of Israel's off-and-on closure of the Karni terminal that handles most goods moving between the territory and the Jewish state.

Israel has cited security concerns for shutting Karni, which was last closed on March 13, and said it has no immediate plans to reopen it.

It proposed a limited transfer of goods via another crossing, at Kerem Shalom, inside Israel, at the corner of the border with Gaza and Egypt. Palestinians had rejected the offer, saying Kerem Shalom was too small to meet the needs of 1.4 million Gazans.

But after talks at the residence of the US ambassador to Israel, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said: ''We decided on an Egyptian-Palestinian-US meeting to agree on arrangements for goods to enter (Gaza) through Kerem Shalom.'' He gave no date for such a meeting but Israel Radio said flour and other basic goods would be moved into the Gaza Strip through Kerem Shalom as early as tomorrow.

US officials had no immediate comment.

Signalling the Palestinians still wanted Karni to serve as the main passage for commercial goods, Erekat said a separate US-Israeli-Palestinian meeting would also be held ''to put into effect security arrangements for the entry of goods at Karni''.

In the meantime, he said, European Union and Palestinian representatives would meet later in the week to discuss exporting Gaza-grown produce through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

DISTRESS John Ging, director of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), said he was distressed at the impact food shortages were having on Gazans.

''Every day is taking us a step closer to a humanitarian crisis,'' Ging told a news conference in Gaza City before Sunday's meeting.

He said that besides flour and wheat, cooking oil, sugar and other staples were in short supply. UNRWA had no food reserves left, Ging added.

Gaza's economy still relies on supplies from Israel despite its withdrawal from the impoverished coastal strip last year.

Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz told Israel's cabinet he had issued instructions for Kerem Shalom to open as ''a temporary replacement to Karni, where there are security alerts that endanger soldiers and civilians alike''.

Israel would permit 100 trucks through the crossing, Israeli officials said.

''Kerem Shalom terminal is ready to hand over goods. We are only waiting for the Palestinians to open the gate on their side to receive them,'' Yoram Shapira, deputy director of the Israel ports authority, told Israel Radio.

Salim Abu Safiya, the Palestinian security chief for crossings into Gaza, said Karni was ''the backbone of the Palestinian economy''. It is the conduit for most of Gaza's raw materials imported through Israel and a key export terminal from Gaza as most of the territory's trade is with Israel.

Reuters SY BS2321