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Kerry in Middle East to Talk Jordan Valley Security Proposals with Israelis, Palestinians
(Washington Post) William Booth and Anne Gearan - The Obama administration is struggling to convince Israel and the Palestinian Authority to accept a security arrangement that could leave Israeli troops stationed inside a future Palestinian state, on the border with Jordan. For Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, limiting the number of Israeli troops in the Jordan Valley, and how long they can be there, would not guarantee safety. Since 1967, the valley has been under the control of the Israeli military. Israeli generals are concerned about terror groups seeking to infiltrate the West Bank and use it as a platform to attack. The area bristles with covert listening stations, radar sweeps and thermal- and night-vision cameras. On the mountain tops that rise steeply from the valley floor, Israel maintains a series of early-warning stations. Troops are on constant patrol along the river and the passes. Israel explains its security concerns by pointing to Gaza, where Israel withdrew in 2005. Hamas came to power two years later. Now, rockets and shoulder-fired missiles are routinely smuggled into Gaza from Egypt, Israeli officials say, while no such weapons have been found in the tightly-controlled West Bank. At one point, U.S. diplomats discussed placing international troops in the Jordan Valley. But Israelis pointed to failures by UN forces in demilitarized zones along the Lebanon and Syrian borders.