TEL AVIV, May 31: Israel’s plan to carve up the West Bank into cantons is a serious blow to the Oslo peace accords and will damage prospects for an economically viable Palestinian state, a senior European Commission (EC) official charged on Thursday.

The plan will end up “paralyzing Palestinian economic and social life and seriously hamper development work,” the EC representative for the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Jean Breteche, told AFP.

Israel last month announced plans to divide the West Bank into eight non-contiguous zones around the areas of Jenin, Nablus, Tulkarem, Qalqilya, Ramallah, Jericho, Bethlehem and Hebron.

Palestinians who wish to travel between them will be issued with temporary travel permits valid for a month at a time. They will only be allowed to travel from one town to the other only between 5:00 am and 7:00 pm each day.

The movement of goods from Israel into the West Bank and within the territory will be subject to a “back-to-back” system.

Under the system, goods will be unloaded from incoming trucks onto outgoing ones as they move from one West Bank area to the other, or as they enter Israel. Breteche said that while permits for the new system have yet to be issued, the back-to-back system is already in place in five West Bank areas and is soon to be set up in Jericho, Nablus and Bethlehem.

He also said that the number of permits proposed by the Israeli authorities was well below what his organization and the European Union (EU) member countries required.

“Take the example of the drivers, we need 25 permits when Israel is offering 20 permits for all donor organizations’ drivers.”

“The back-to-back and permit system means the costs of implementing our projects will soar because of delays and the difficulty for labourers and local experts to access the sites,” he also said.

He warned the number of EU-financed projects could diminish as a result. The EU is second only to Gulf countries in financing Palestinian development.

Along with other major donor organizations, Breteche met again Thursday with the man who devised the canton plan, Israel’s West Bank coordinator Major General Amos Gilad.

Despite the meeting, he said he was “pessimistic about Israel relenting on the plan.”

“Gilad heard our complaints, adjustments may be done, but the subject is not open to negotiations since the decision was taken by the army and motivated by security considerations,” he said.

“Closures are no guarantee, alas, for Israel’s security,” he added, referring to the continuation of anti-Israeli attacks by militant groups despite sweeping closures of the Palestinian territories.

Donor countries have singled out closures as the main cause of the Palestinian economic crisis.

The Palestinian economy lost an estimated 2.4 billion dollars between the beginning of the uprising in September 2000 and December 2001 alone, according to the World Bank.

Breteche also denounced the plan as “contrary to the Oslo accords,” the 1993 accords which set up the Palestinian Authority.

A 1995 agreement with Israel on the implementation of the Oslo accords enshrined the free movement of people and goods within the Palestinian territories.

He charged that Israel was set on “completely annihilating (them) by going ahead with the cantonization of the West Bank.”

Breteche also said the canton plan violated provisions in the 1995 agreement to allow Palestinians to move freely between the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The plan will also limit their access to annexed east Jerusalem.

“Which kind of Palestinian state will take shape if we are barred from developing its economic, social and democratic infrastructure and if there is no territorial continuity within the West Bank and between the West Bank and Gaza?” he asked.

Breteche also said it did not make sense for Israel to demand Palestinian elections and then intensify its closures of the territories.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat pledged in mid-May to hold the polls and reform his administration, which is widely viewed as corrupt and inefficient. Israel has also demanded the reforms to move forward with the peace process. “How will people be able to go vote if they can’t freely move?” Breteche said, recalling the EU’s commitment to support and finance the Palestinian elections as it did in the only previous ones in 1996.—AFP