By Xinhua
Jerusalem : Israel’s policies in the Gaza Strip are likely to turn the territory into Somalia, European Union special envoy to the Middle East Marc Otte told local daily Ha’aretz on Thursday in an interview.
“The implications of Israeli activity may be that Gaza becomes Somalia,” Otte said.
The envoy added that “Israel’s tactics in the Gaza Strip did not work,” deeming the failed blockade and sanctions only strengthened the Islamic Hamas and weakened moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as well as Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
Otte said further that “The blockade…only made things more complex for Israel and Egypt and created unnecessary tension between the two states,” referring to a recent border tumult at Gaza-Egypt border, where border fence was torn open. Before his visit to Israel, Otte met with senior Egyptian officials in Cairo earlier this week to discuss the breached border fence.
Describing some of the Egyptian ideas as proposed for resolving the crisis, the EU envoy expressed concern that Israel is still uncertain about how to deal with the new situation that has emerged along the border.
Otte disclosed that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Egypt’s Intelligence Chief, Omar Suleiman, are interested in a “package deal” that will bring about a more general settlement to the border situation between Israel and Egypt as well as between Israel and the Gaza Strip.
According to the Egyptian plan, Rafah crossing should be reopened in line with the previous agreement but more intensive efforts would be imposed to curb smuggling. The plan also called for Israeli support to a Fayyad plan, under which the control over the Karni and Sufa crossings will be transferred to the Palestinian National Authority.
Voicing his favor of the Fayyad plan, Otte said “I believe that Israel needs to agree to the Fayyad plan, because this will put the pressure on Hamas, forcing them to decide whether to continue preventing the opening of the crossings.”
“Israel needs to understand that it will not get anything better than Salam Fayyad. I understand that the army and the Shin Bet are worried about security in the short term, but they must look a little forward and this is the role of the leadership,” Otte said.