Bush and Olmert meet to discuss recent events
CAIRO: Hundreds of Gazans, attempting to flee into Israel through the Erez crossing after the Strip was taken over by Hamas, have been blocked at the border.
Six hundred people were held in the tunnel that leads into Israel Tuesday, 100 of them members of Fatah security forces. Israel has no intention of letting them through, refusing their entry, saying that their lives were not in danger.
A day before, fighting broke out between armed Palestinians and Israelis over the Erez crossing which left one Palestinian dead and 15 wounded.
The only other exit or entry way into Gaza, the Rafah crossing which links to Egypt, remains closed since clashes in the Strip saw Hamas wrestle control away from rivals Fatah.
Vital to the Strip’s economy, the closing of the Rafah crossing could lead to a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
John Ging, head of UN aid operations in Gaza, said, “One day of a crossing not working is not going to create a crisis. But a sustained closure will, of course, AP reported.
In Washington, an already scheduled meeting between President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was dominated by discussions on the current situation.
On Monday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced that the US would lift the aid embargo on the territories and begin sending funds to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. She would present the new plan to Congress on Tuesday.
However, AP quoted Republican Senator and chair of a House subcommittee on the Middle East, Gary Ackerman, as saying: “It s a day late and a $100 million short. If we were delivering goods to Abu Mazen [Abbas] and making him the Muslim Santa Claus in the Arab world so we were giving out the goodies, instead of Hamas, they wouldn t have lost the last election. And Hamas would have withered in the desert.
The unity government between Fatah and Hamas has been dissolved and an interim government was sworn in by Fatah President Mahmoud Abbas. Fighting, which saw over a 100 people killed has ended, with Hamas taking control of the Gaza Strip while Fatah reigns over the West Bank.
Western countries have all publicly backed the new government and Fatah.
A secret report written by former UN envoy to the Middle East Peace Quartet Alvaro de Soto and published by The Guardian newspaper argued for more engagement with Hamas.
