By DPA
Jerusalem : Reacting to a surge in Palestinian rocket attacks from the enclave, Israel has declared the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip “hostile territory” and announced new economic sanctions, including cutting down on electricity and fuel supplies.
Hamas slammed Wednesday’s decision as “collective punishment” and a “declaration of war”, but visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed support, saying that “Hamas is indeed a hostile entity and it is a hostile entity for the United States as well”.
“The US will not abandon the innocent Palestinians in Gaza,” she added in a joint news conference in Jerusalem with her Israeli counterpart, Tzipi Livni, shortly after arriving in the region for a two-day visit to advance increasingly troubled preparations for a US-sponsored Middle East conference due in November.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon however said he was “very concerned” by Israel’s “intent to interrupt essential services such as electricity and fuel to the civilian population” and called on it to “reconsider this decision”.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas too condemned the step, saying that tightening the “stranglehold” on Gaza would punish those not involved in the rocket-fire.
The Israeli security cabinet, meeting Wednesday, unanimously adopted the plan proposed by defence officials, which calls for reducing electricity and fuel supplies and limiting even further the entry of non-humanitarian, commercial goods into the impoverished coastal salient.
There would also be even tighter restrictions on the entry and exit of people into and from the Strip through border crossings with Israel.
A statement from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office said that the sanctions would be implemented after a legal examination. Water and humanitarian aid would not be cut off, with the statement citing Israel’s “intention to avoid a humanitarian crisis”.
“All the needs which are more than the humanitarian needs will not be supplied by Israel to the Gaza Strip,” Livni told the news conference with Rice, clarifying the implications of terming Gaza “hostile territory”.
Conditions in the volatile coastal territory have already been harsh since Hamas led a cross-border raid on an Israeli military outpost from Gaza and snatched an Israeli soldier more than one year ago, leading Israel to impose a tight closure.
They have worsened further since Hamas’ violent take-over of the Strip from security forces answering to President Mahmoud Abbas of the rival Fatah party, which led to a further tightening of the closure.
A report published Tuesday by the World Bank said well over one-third of Gazans lived in “deep poverty”, a figure which would jump to two-thirds if it were not for food hand-outs, as 90 percent of Gaza’s industries have shut down or suspended operations due to lack of raw materials and export markets, resulting in an unemployment rate of at least 35 percent.
But the Israeli cabinet decision follows a surge in rocket fire from the Strip on Israeli towns and villages adjacent to the salient.
According to Israeli figures, at least 164 of the makeshift rockets have been launched from the Strip since Hamas took control of the enclave in mid-June, and over 1,826 since Israel pulled its troops and settlers out of Gaza two years ago.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniya, who has continued to call himself prime minister in Gaza despite his dismissal by Abbas following the Gaza take-over, earlier met leaders of militant factions and urged them to end the rocket-fire in a bid to prevent the new Israeli sanctions.
Rice’s visit, the second since US President George W. Bush announced the meeting in July, comes as expectations of the November conference have become increasingly dim, with aides to Abbas threatening he and other moderate Arab leaders would not attend unless it there would be an outcome of “substance”.
Abbas wants to reach a binding, “far-reaching” agreement that would form the basis of a final peace deal ahead of the conference.
But Olmert wants to limit himself to a one-page “declaration of intent” that may briefly address crucial issues including the status of Jerusalem, the borders of a future Palestinian state and the issue of Palestinian refugees, but will not be binding and will lead to a gradual revival of long-stalled peace negotiations.