Committed to PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO KNOW
Vol. 5 Num 1082 Sun. June 17, 2007  
   
International


US pledges to end ban on Palestinian aid
UN urges Israel to re-open Gaza crossings


The United States strengthened its offer of support for President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday, telling him an international aid embargo against the Palestinians would end as soon as he forms a new government without Hamas, aides to Abbas said.

Hundreds of Fatah gunmen stormed Hamas-controlled institutions across the West Bank, seeking revenge for the Islamic group's takeover of the Gaza Strip, while Hamas forces blew up the home of a prominent Fatah family and deployed at strategic locations to solidify their control of Gaza.

The battles between the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and the Fatah-controlled West Bank have effectively turned the areas into separate political entities, endangering the Palestinian dream of forming an independent state in the two territories.

The aides to Abbas, speaking on condition of anonymity because the talks were closed, said the US consul general in Jerusalem, Jacob Walles, told Abbas that the US supports his recent steps and that the foreign aid embargo on the Palestinian government would be lifted the moment the new government is formed.

The international community had imposed the boycott after Hamas came to power in March 2006. The boycott continued even after Abbas' Fatah joined Hamas in a more moderate coalition.

Meanwhile, the United Nations urged Israel to re-open crossings into Gaza yesterday to avoid a humanitarian crisis in the impoverished territory sealed off from the world after the takeover by Hamas.

"The borders need to be open, we cannot collectively punish 1.5 million people in the Gaza Strip. They are already living in miserable conditions," John Ging, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), told AFP.

Israel closed all of its border crossing points with Gaza after the Islamist Hamas, whose charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state, routed Palestinian Authority security services in the impoverished territory.

The sealed crossings include the Rafah terminal on the border with Egypt -- Gaza's only window to the outside world that bypasses Israel.

The closures have raised alarm about the impact on Gaza, a tiny densely-populated territory that receives the vast majority of its food, and all its fuel and medical supplies via Israel.

"The crossings remaining closed is not an option. The Gaza Strip is entirely dependent of the importation of not just aid, but also commercial trade," Ging said, adding that 80 percent of Gaza's population depended on foreign aid.

Israeli Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer said on Saturday that Israel "must allow the humanitarian aid... I don't think the Gaza Strip will survive from a humanitarian perspective for more than a month if Israel does not open the lid."

He said Israel would continue to supply electricity and water to the Gaza Strip despite the crisis, but that the crossings would remain closed for the time being.

"We will continue to supply the bare minimum (to Gaza) and help them with electricity," Ben Eliezer told public radio.