Israel & Palestinian Authority set up joint transport office

Israel and the Palestinian Authority signed last week an agreement to establish a Joint Transport Office that will plan and build joint transport projects.

The agreement was signed by Minister of Transport Meir Shetrit and Palestinian Authority (PA) Minister of Transportation Saed-Eddine Khurma.
 
The agreementon establishing a joint transport officewas negotiated with the close assistance of the European Union (EU ), which has allocated 2.5 million euros to fund the office,the objective of which will be to initiate and plan joint Israel-PA transportation projects. The EU also promised to consider providing funds for projects launched by the office.

EU representative to the signing ceremony Laurent Muschel, head of the unit for international relations at the European Commission’s directorate general for energy and transport, said that the EU was committed to the joint transport office project and expressed the EU's hope that bothIsrael and the Palestinian Authoritywould be able to set aside their political differences in favor of general welfare.
 
According to ministry of transport officials the joint office will focus on infrastructure projects such as railroads, roads and border crossings.
 
The officials added that among the projects being considered by the joint office are a line connecting Ramallah with the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem railroad, rail line connecting Jenin with the Yezreel Valley railroad and a line between Ashkelon and Gaza that, if built,would link up to the railroad between Gaza and the West Bank.
 
Minister Sheetrit said during the ceremony that transport infrastructures are critical toward promoting economic growth. Sheetrit emphasized his hopes that the EU would be able to assist in financing transport projects that would build railway lines between Gaza Strip and Ashdod and between Haifa and the West Bank.