CAIRO: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday rejected what he said were Israeli attempts to escape responsibility towards the blockaded Gaza Strip and place it on Egypt.
"We are exerting all efforts to lift the Israeli blockade on Gaza," Mubarak told members of his ruling National Democratic Party in a speech carried by the official MENA news agency.
"We reject attempts by Israel, the occupying force, to free itself of responsibility towards the Strip and place it on Egypt," he said.
Mubarak’s comments come after Israel on Sunday said it would allow all strictly "civilian" goods into the Gaza Strip while preventing weapons and certain dual-use items from entering the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave.
The new policy is a response to mounting calls to ease Israel’s four-year siege on the coastal enclave after Israeli forces killed nine Turkish activists during a May 31 raid on a flotilla of aid ships attempting to run the blockade.
Following the raid, Mubarak ordered that the Rafah border crossing — the only entry to Gaza that bypasses Israel — be opened indefinitely.
In his speech Mubarak said divisions between rival Palestinian factions gave Israel a "pretext" to delay the peace process.
"We regret the ongoing Palestinian divisions which the Palestinian people are paying the price for … and which give Israel a pretext to delay peace negotiations," he said.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party and Hamas have remained deeply divided since the Islamists seized control of Gaza in June 2007.
Since then Egypt has made several attempts to reconcile the two main Palestinian movements, but the last round of talks ended in October 2009 when Hamas refused to sign the Egyptian document after it was inked by Fatah.
