Israel’s decision to ease its blockade of Gaza has drawn criticism from Palestinians who say it does not go far enough and Israelis who fear it will strengthen the territory’s Hamas rulers.
Western governments, however, including the US, have hailed the move as a step in the right direction.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has held sway in the West Bank only since Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007, insisted Israel must completely lift the four-year-old blockade.
“President Abbas demands the complete lifting of the siege on Gaza,” his spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said.
“These steps alone are not sufficient, and all efforts must be exerted to ease the suffering of the people of Gaza,” he said.
Gaza’s Islamist rulers also dismissed Israel’s decision and called for “the complete and genuine lifting of all forms of the blockade.”
“We want all of Gaza’s needs to be met, including electricity and fuel and the lifting of all banking restrictions and this is what is not included in the Israeli decision, which means the siege is still in place,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said.
Israel announced on Sunday that it would allow the import of strictly “civilian” goods, but will restrict “problematic dual-use” items — thought to include construction materials which can be used to build rockets and bunkers. Israel did not mention allowing exports out of Gaza.
The new policy follows mounting international pressure in the wake of a May 31 Israeli commando raid that killed nine Turkish activists aboard a flotilla of aid ships on a blockade-busting bid.
Israeli deputy defense minister Matan Vilnai made it clear he opposed any easing of the blockade.
“There is no doubt that the decision to allow the entry of more goods into the Gaza Strip will indirectly help Hamas strengthen its power,” Vilnai said.
Israeli environmental protection minister Gilad Erdan, on the other hand, insisted the blockade had not achieved the desired effect of weakening Hamas.
“The blockade caused damage to us: It did not enable us to weaken the Hamas power or to speed up the release of Gilad Shalit,” Erdan, who is close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said.
Several western governments responded favorably to Sunday’s announcement while making it clear more was needed.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton called it “a significant improvement” and the White House said it “should improve life for the people of Gaza.”
Sunday’s announcement came ahead of a planned July 6 meeting in Washington between Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama, who has called the humanitarian situation in Gaza “unsustainable.”
Until now, Israel has allowed humanitarian supplies and some commercial goods into Gaza, where the majority of the 1.5 million population relies on foreign food aid.
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
HOLLYWOOD IN TURMOIL: Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton and Cary Elwes lost properties to the flames, while awards events planned for this week have been delayed Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events, while at least five people have died. Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week’s Oscar nominations have been delayed, while tens of thousands of city residents had been displaced and were awaiting word on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city’s most famous denizens. More than 1,900 structures had been destroyed and the number was expected to increase. More than 130,000 people
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
RSS