Israel maintains Gaza closure despite humanitarian concerns
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 11/21/2008 8:57 PM
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JERUSALEM - Israel said on Friday it will maintain its closure of the Gaza Strip despite international concern over a deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the aid-dependent Palestinian territory.
"This decision was taken because of the continuation of Palestinian rocket attacks against southern Israel," said Peter Lerner, a defence ministry spokesman.
A rocket fired from Gaza exploded near the port city of Ashkelon early Friday without causing any casualties or damage, army radio said.
A flare-up of violence on November 4 prompted Israel to tighten a blockade it has imposed since the Islamist Hamas movement seized power in Gaza in June last year.
Since the recent surge in violence, only 33 truckloads of basic supplies as well as limited quantities of fuel have been allowed into the impoverished coastal strip.
The United Nations has urged Israel to reopen the crossings, saying the closure of Gaza contravenes international law.
Israel had been expected to significantly ease its blockade after a truce went into effect in June. It argues that militant attacks have made this impossible but Hamas accuses it of breaching the deal.
Senior defence ministry official Reserve Major General Amos Gilad, who led the Israeli side in the Egyptian-brokered negotiations for the truce, insisted that it remained in force and that he expected it to continue.
Asked in a Jerusalem Post interview if the truce had collapsed, he said: "No".
According to the interview, Gilad said "Hamas's overall interest, "as far as can be judged, is to return to the calm.
"But Hamas is committed to the destruction of the state ... It wants to take over the Palestine Liberation Organisation. At present for tactical and strategic reasons, it is interested in the calm."
Gilad said there was no military solution to the Gaza problem and rejected calls by cabinet members such as Deputy Prime Minister Haim Ramon and Trade and Industry Ministry Eli Yishai for a major ground offensive to topple Hamas.
"Experience shows that military operations don't always solve problems in the Middle East. You have to find the optimal solution. To date no appropriate military solution was found for the Strip."
Gilad is a top aide of Defence Minister Ehud Barak, the leader of the centre-left Labour party, who has taken a much softer line on Gaza in recent days than outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert or Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.
At a cabinet meeting on Sunday at which Olmert accused Hamas of "shattering" the truce, Barak called for it to be extended beyond its initial six-month term which expires on December 19.
The head of the Hamas administration in Gaza, Ismail Haniya, said on Friday that all of the Palestinian factions in Gaza were prepared to respect the truce if Israel kept to its side of the bargain.
"Over the past two days, we've had meetings with the Palestinian factions and we have arrived at clear position -- to respect the truce as long as the occupier does too," he said.
"But so far the occupier has not honoured its commitments, indeed it has closed the border crossings and tightened the blockade."
