Netanyahu issues conflicting statements on Gaza

Published yesterday (updated) 17/06/2010 22:31 Bethlehem - Ma'an/Agencies -

 International news reports on the possibility that the Israeli occupation government will alter its blockade on the Gaza Strip have offered a starkly different account of a plan that readers of the Israeli press were told doesn't exist.

According to a press release Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office issued in English, a decision was made Thursday to ease the blockade. "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," the English statement said.

In the "translation" of the same statement in Hebrew, however, there is no such decision or agreement mentioned. And according to Israeli journalist Barak Ravid of the Haaretz daily, while the discussions spanned a total of six hours extended over two days, no decision was ever actually made.

"Two official statements came out of the Prime Minister's Office in regard to the security cabinet meeting – one in Hebrew for the Israeli media and another in English for the foreign media and foreign diplomats," Ravid wrote. "It is not clear whether this discrepancy was a deliberate attempt to buy time in the face of international pressure, or a clerical omission on behalf of the Prime Minister's Office."

UN envoy 'encouraged' by Gaza announcement

Published yesterday (updated) 18/06/2010 13:12 Bethlehem - Ma'an -

The UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Robert Serry, is encouraged that the Israeli occupation government is reviewing its brutal siege on the Gaza Strip, his office indicated Tuesday.

"We're encouraged the Israeli security cabinet is reviewing policy on Gaza, and we hope that today's decision is a real step forward toward meeting the needs in Gaza," Serry's spokesman Richard Miron said.

"We will immediately engage the Israeli occupation government to learn more about the decision and the additional measures and steps of implementation still required," Miron told Ma'an.

"We continue to seek a fundamental change in policy, as agreed by the Quartet, so that humanitarian assistance, commercial goods, and people are able to flow through functioning, open crossings and so that reconstruction can take place," Miron said over the phone.

"The UN has demonstrated the integrity of its programming and stands ready to scale up its efforts to help Gaza recover and rebuild if enabled to do so," the Jerusalem-based UN official added.

UNRWA spokesman: Measure Israeli decision in deeds

Published today (updated) 18/06/2010 10:14

Bethlehem - Ma'an/Agencies -

Spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency Chris Gunness warned BBC TV audiences on Thursday, that the Israeli occupation government's decision to ease the siege on Gaza should be measured in deeds, not in words.

"There have been many many false dawns," Gunnesss said about Israeli promises to improve on violations of international law, emphasizing that the "collective punishment of 1.5 million" people in Gaza was illegal.

"There is no such thing as a partial violation of international law," Gunness added, questioning the announced plan to ease the blockade, and calling for a total end to the siege.

Gunness' UN Chief Ban Ki-moon, who expressed a more positive "hope" that the Israeli announcement would see and end to Gaza suffering, nonetheless mandated UN officials to continue to seek “a fundamental change in policy” so that humanitarian assistance, commercial goods and people are able to flow through functioning open crossings, and reconstruction can take place, a statement from the official's office read.

The UNRWA spokesman was less hopeful, however, saying Israel's move must not be hailed until it proves to ameliorate the conditions in Gaza. The announced 'liberalization' - as Quartet envoy Tony Blair described it - must be assessed by “deed and not by words because there have been many words indeed," Gunness said.

Making an appeal to the international community on the BBC, Gunness explained that Israel's blockade was essentially "against its own attempts to reconstruct Gaza," citing the millions pledged by world donors at the Sharam Ash-Sheikh conference in 2009, and recalling that the blockade on reconstruction materials only prevented international action, adding that "other people have been doing it [reconstruction]," for example the Hamas government, and its backers.

The Israeli siege on Gaza, Gunness concluded, "was a clear case of where Israeli strategy directly countered to the strategy of the international community which wanted to rebuild Gaza."