Israel decides to ease Gaza land blockade

TEL AVIV - Israel is to loosen its land blockade of the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Thursday, at the end of two days of discussions by his inner cabinet.

Under the new policy, Israel will let more “civilian goods” enter the salient and expand the amount of materials used for civilian projects being carried out under international supervision, a statement by Netanyahu’s office said.

However existing restrictions aimed at preventing weapons from entering the Strip will remain in place.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat called the Israel move “not sufficient”.

“With this decision, Israel attempts to make it appear that it has eased its four-year blockade and its even longer-standing access and movement restrictions imposed on the population of Gaza. In reality, the siege of the Gaza Strip, illegally imposed on Palestinians continues unabated,” he said in a statement.

Ahmed Yussef, deputy ministers of foreign affairs in the Hamas administration ruling the Gaza Strip was more direct, calling the Israeli decision “nonsense” and “part of Israeli propaganda to ease the pressure of the world on Israel”.

He said that Hamas was considering a European proposal whereby ships Gaza would be inspected by EU monitors to ensure they contained no weapons.

The Israeli cabinet is to meet again in the coming days to decide on additional steps, the cabinet statement said, and called on foreign governments to work toward the “immediate” release of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who has been held hostage in the Strip for the past four years.

Israel imposed its blockade on the Strip in 2006, after militants from the enclave, led by Hamas which rejects recognizing Israel, launched a raid in which they snatched Shalit.

Hamas, which is holding the soldier, demands the release of approximately 1,000 Palestinians jailed in Israel, in return for him. Negotiations to secure a swap have so far proved fruitless.

The blockade was significantly tightened in June 2007, when, in a week of bloody violence, Hamas militants routed security personnel loyal to the Palestinian Authority and President Mahmoud Abbas, and seized full control of the Gaza Strip.

The Hamas takeover also led Egypt to shut the Rafah border crossing point with the Sinai, Gaza’s sole entry and exit point which does not pass through Israeli territory.

Calls for the blockade to be eased, or abandoned completely, have increased significantly since the beginning of the month, when Israel seized six ships carrying aid and pro-Palestinian activists to the salient.

The takeover of one of the ships turned into a violent clash, with nine activists shot dead by Israeli commandos, bringing a wave of international condemnation on the Jewish state.

The Jerusalem Post speculated that Thursday’s cabinet decision “came amid a growing sense in Jerusalem that a move by the government to significantly ease up on what is allowed into Gaza through land crossings would bring about more cooperation by governments in dissuading their citizens from taking part in future attempts to break the blockade”.

Israel has vowed to prevent future aid flotillas from reaching the Strip, especially ships expected to be sent by Iran and Lebanon.

“We will stop those ships,” a high-ranking Israeli army officer told foreign correspondents in Tel Aviv Thursday.

In a related development, US Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell urged concerned parties to “exercise restraint” and “avoid confrontation” as he met Israeli leaders during the fourth round of indirect Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak acknowledged that the talks have been overshadowed by the fallout from Israel’s seizure at the beginning of the month of the Gaza-bound flotilla, saying that he hoped the US envoy would revive the intensity of the indirect negotiations.

Mitchell, who arrived in the region Wednesday night, is slated to meet Palestinian officials Friday.