JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST Apr. 10, 2008 www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1207649986161&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Palestinian Authority negotiator Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala) have agreed to transfer the Atarot airfield near Jerusalem to the Palestinian Authority as part of their secret negotiations, local Jerusalem newspaper Kol Hazman reported Thursday.

The paper quoted senior sources in the foreign ministry as saying that an agreement had already been reached on the matter and that Israel had given its final approval.

According to the report, the decision was reached as a result of Israel’s recognition of the need to strengthen the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank in order to counterbalance Hamas’s rule in Gaza.

Kol Hazman Lupolianski reportedly claimed the transfer would constitute a security breach and a serious abandonment of Jerusalem, arguing that if Israeli flights presently face security risks, the situation would only worsen with Palestinian control of airport security.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 11th, 2008 and is filed under news. You can leave a response.