TEL AVIV - Israel has set up a mechanism to funnel aid to the Palestinians in the event of an earthquake, though its emergency relief services would not deploy throughout their territory, Israeli officials said on Tuesday.
A 5.5-magnitude quake rattled Israel and the West Bank on Friday, reminding residents of their common vulnerability to the Syria-African Rift, a northern extension of Africa's Rift Valley, despite the deadlock in talks on founding an independent Palestinian state.Given Israel's control over and inside the West Bank, it would, in the event of a major quake, host a United Nations aid distribution center to receive relief from abroad, by air and the Mediterranean sea, for Israelis and Palestinians.
