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Israel says it is easing land blockade on besieged Gaza
But Israel maintained its sea blockade, a ban on exports from the coastal strip and a prohibition against the commercial import of building materials, vital to widescale reconstruction after the December 2008-January 2009 Gaza war. Hamas dismissed the new measures as trivial and “media propaganda.”
“What is needed is a complete lifting of the blockade. Goods and people must be free to enter and leave. Gaza especially needs construction material, which must be allowed to come in without restrictions,” said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri.
An Israeli statement, issued after a security cabinet meeting, said “it was agreed to liberalize the system by which civilian goods enter Gaza [and] expand the inflow of materials for civilian projects that are under international supervision.” Israel claims that unrestricted import of cement and steel could lead to Hamas seizing the material and using it to rebuild military infrastructure. It already allows in limited quantities of construction material for UN projects.
The announcement did not specify how procedures for the import of commercial goods would change or list any specific products, saying only that cabinet ministers would decide in the coming days how to implement the revised policy. But it noted “existing security procedures to prevent the inflow of weapons and war materials” would continue.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak later told reporters more goods would reach the Gaza Strip “without lifting the sea blockade,” a measure Israel says is aimed at curbing arms smuggling to Hamas.
Some 1.5 million people live in Gaza, of whom about 1 million depend to some extent on regular supplies of UN and other foreign aid brought in overland after Israeli inspection.
‘Counterproductive’
Israel faced increased international calls to ease or lift its Gaza embargo following the killing by Israeli commandos of nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists during the interception at sea of an aid convoy on May 31. Israeli leaders said the troops acted in self-defense after being swarmed by activists who attacked them. Once-close Muslim ally Turkey accused Israel of “state terrorism”.
Commenting on the revised embargo, a Turkish Foreign Ministry official said Ankara wanted to evaluate the Israeli move and see how it would be implemented. “However, our attitude on the issue is obvious, we expect that the blockade be lifted altogether,” the official said.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the European Union hoped “the in-principle statement by the Israeli government can now be followed up very quickly with the detail which we shall look at with interest”. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told reporters in Rome that Israel “has understood that a blockade strategy is counterproductive”, echoing Israeli and foreign critics of the embargo who have said it only rallies Gaza residents around Hamas.
European diplomats had said a plan drawn up in coordination with Middle East envoy Tony Blair called for Israel to move from a policy of banning the entry of many commercial goods, except a few designated items, to accepting all products and prohibiting only those proscribed on a list.
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