JERUSALEM, July 6 (Xinhuanet) -- Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz on Wednesday called for the creation of a special authority to handle the establishment of crossings in the West Bank and between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

   Speaking at a special meeting, Mofaz said the planning for an overland passage between the West Bank and Gaza would include a rail line, an embedded road, and electric and communications infrastructures, Army Radio reported.

   The West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which are completely separated, are two major parts of the Palestinian territories.

   The defense minister said that within his ministry, there are estimates that terror attacks will continue and any compromise on the issue of security is impossible.

   The radio reported earlier that Israel and the Palestinian National Authority have basically reached an agreement on the creation of an overland connection between Gaza and the West Bank following the pullout.

   Under the agreement, at a first stage Israel security forces will escort convoys of Palestinian vehicles traveling between the two areas. In the future Israel has proposed linking the two major Palestinian territories by railroad.

   The railroad would link the Erez industrial zone in northern Gaza to the Tarqumiyeh checkpoint near the West Bank town of Hebron, about 40 km south of Jerusalem.

   The agreement, however, is still far away from being carried out and the two sides have not discussed the plan in details.

   The World Bank estimates that building a railroad would cost as much as 175 million US dollars and take three years to finish, and therefore proposes a four-lane sunken highway be built in a five-meter-deep trench instead of a railroad.

   The bank believes this will cost only 130 million dollars and is also cheaper to operate. Enditem