(Ha'aretz) Barak Ravid - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told visiting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Sunday that while Israel was grateful for the Netherlands' donation of a container scanner for use at a Gaza crossing, it still could not allow exports from Gaza to the West Bank. "The Dutch scanner... can facilitate right now the screening of goods that go out to European markets," but "we want to make sure that goods that go from...Gaza do not contain weapons or explosives that can reach the Palestinian Authority areas," Netanyahu said. A dispute over the scanner evolved over the past two weeks after the Dutch Foreign Ministry asked that Jerusalem use the new scanner to allow the export of goods from Gaza to the West Bank. The Israel Defense Ministry considered and rejected the request.
2013-12-09 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive