Region | Palestinian Territories
Israel reviewing format of Gaza blockade, says minister
Israeli cabinet minister calls the current policy counter-productive, says it is time to end Gaza closure in its current form
- Agencies
- Published: 10:50 June 16, 2010
- Image Credit: AFP
- Demonstrators protest against the Israeli commando raid on a flotilla of boats carrying humanitarian relief supplies to the Gaza Strip, outside the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles, California in this May 31, 2010 file photo.
Occupied Jerusalem: Senior officials said that top Israeli Cabinet ministers have decided on a plan to ease Israel's bruising blockade of the Gaza Strip.
They said that senior Cabinet ministers are meeting on Wednesday to vote on limiting restrictions on Gaza to a small list of goods that Israel says militants could use in their battle against the Jewish state.
However, they said that even those goods, such as steel and cement, would be allowed into Gaza to some extent in coordination with the United Nations.
The three-year-old blockade came to international attention after Israeli commandos killed nine pro-Palestinian activists in a raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.
On Tuesday, an Israeli Cabinet minister called the current policy of placing restrictions on Gaza as counter-productive.
"It is time to end the closure in its current form. It does not provide any value to Israel. From a diplomatic standpoint it causes great image problems," Welfare Minister Isaac Herzog told Israel Radio.
He said Israel had informed Blair, who briefed European Union foreign ministers on Monday, that it intends to "permit an easier passage of goods" to the Gaza Strip.
Technical details
Related Links
- UN to deliver goods seized from raided aid ship
- Israeli soldiers kill infiltrator from Egypt
- Charity to sue Israel in Britain over flotilla raid
- Living it out on the Mavi Marmara
- Arabs say Obama no different from Bush on Israel
- EU pressure mounts over Israel's Gaza blockade
- Israeli probe plan no good, says Abbas
- Turkey rejects Israel's probe of flotilla raid
- We are not treated like humans, says Gaza resident
- Palestinians still continue to suffer
"At the moment, they are working on the technical details ... of an updated formula that would also prevent smuggling of munitions to the Gaza Strip," Herzog said.
Meanwhile, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak discussed efforts to lift the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, at a meeting with his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas.
Abbas on Tuesday urged Hamas to sign an Egyptian-drafted reconciliation document to pave the way for a transitional government.
Transitional government
Abbas stressed "the importance of Hamas signing the Egyptian reconciliation document", in remarks carried by Egypt's official Mena news agency, after talks with President Hosni Mubarak in the Red Sea resort of Sharm Al Shaikh.
"After that we can discuss all the demands of Hamas and other parties during the implementation of the document," Abbas said.
"If the paper is signed, we do not mind forming a transitional government or a government of technocrats or independents to oversee several issues, most notably receiving reconstruction funds," he said, referring to the billions of dollars pledged to rebuild Gaza following the December 2008-January 2009 war.
More from Palestinian Territories
More from Region
News Editor's choice
-
Ukraine leaders fight over Russian language
Violence erupts in Ukraine parliament over a bill to allow use of Russian language in courts, hospitals
-
CBSE: 100% success in many UAE schools
6,000 students from 53 schools meet grade expectations in examinations
-
'I can’t believe he is not going to come back'
Seventeen-year-old boy went missing in Dubai during a visit from Pakistan
