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Monday, January 21, 2008 11:20:38 PM
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Palestinians waiting to buy bread in the Gaza Strip on Monday. (Ibraheem Abu Mustafa /Reuters)
As pressure mounts, Israel agrees to allow Gaza
some fuel and supplies .. By Isabel Kershner
Published: January 21, 2008 .. page 1 of 2 ..
JERUSALEM: With international alarm and criticism mounting because of its blockade of Gaza, Defense Minister Ehud Barak of Israel announced Monday that he was lifting some of the restrictions and would allow in a week's supply of industrial diesel needed to run the local power station, as well as 50 trucks of food and medical supplies Tuesday.
The decision came as aid officials warned that Gaza was two or three days away from a health and food crisis, with fuel and electricity shortages taking effect. Barak had ordered the closure of the border crossings into Gaza on Thursday night, halting all exports, in response to the intense rocket fire last week against Israel by militant groups in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
No goods had been allowed in since, and Gaza shut down its only power station Sunday as the industrial diesel needed to fuel it ran out.
Israel and Egypt continued to provide electricity to Gaza by cable, but the closure of the local power station cut the strip's supply by at least a quarter, or by as much as 43 percent, according to different estimates of the area's needs. By Monday night, parts of Gaza City, where about a third of Gaza's population of 1.5 million reside, had been totally blacked out for 24 hours.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which provides assistance to Palestinian refugees and their descendents, announced Monday that it would have to suspend its food aid to 860,000 Gaza residents by Wednesday or Thursday if the closure was not lifted, because it was running out of the nylon bags it uses to measure out and distribute staples like pulses and flour.
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The agency had enough fuel to run its vehicles for only two or three more days, said a spokesman, Christopher Gunness.
"We had to give away about half of our reserves today, for hospital generators and the like," he said.
The international aid agency Oxfam warned in a statement issued Monday afternoon that Gaza's water and sewage systems were "a matter of hours from almost total shutdown as stocks of fuel to run vital pumps runs out."
Mahmoud Daher, a health officer for the World Health Organization in Gaza, said Monday that there was a shortage of more than a hundred types of medication, and there were no spare parts to fix broken generators.
"There is no crisis yet, but there will be one if the situation continues. We are on the edge," Daher said.
Benita Ferrero-Waldner, commissioner for external relations of the European Commission, condemned the rocket fire into Israel, but also condemned what she called Israel's "collective punishment of the people of Gaza."
A spokeswoman for the French Foreign Ministry also said that "the measures taken amount to collective punishment of the entire civilian population." The foreign secretary of Britain, David Miliband, and the international development secretary, Douglas Alexander, issued a joint statement saying that "Israeli security and justice for Palestinians will not be achieved by cutting off fuel or by firing rockets."
There were also expressions of concern from the Arab world, and the president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, called both Barak and the prime minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert, according to the official Egyptian news agency MENA.
Israeli officials said it was not Israel inflicting the collective punishment, but Hamas. "It is very interesting that we didn't hear these condemnations when the rockets were falling," said Shlomo Dror, spokesman for the Israeli Defense Ministry. "Is that not collective punishment?" he said, adding that the situation in Sderot, the Israeli town near the Gaza border that the militants aim most of their rockets at, had become "intolerable."
Despite the growing pressure, Israeli officials had insisted Monday that the Hamas leadership in Gaza was exaggerating the effects of the closure.
Arye Mekel, a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said, "What we are seeing now is a staged production by Hamas." Even with a shortage of fuel, given the amount of electricity provided by Israel and Egypt, there was no justification for the massive blackouts, Mekel said.
Israel said it would now allow in some diesel for generators, assuming it would be sent to the hospitals, and cooking gas, but was still not planning to resume supplies of gasoline for private cars.
At a meeting with members of his Kadima party on Monday, Olmert said, "As far as I'm concerned, the residents of Gaza can walk if they don't have petrol for their cars, because they have a murderous terrorist regime that won't let people in the south of Israel live in safety."
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/21/africa/mideast.php
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Palestinians waiting to buy bread in the Gaza Strip on Monday. (Ibraheem Abu Mustafa /Reuters)
As pressure mounts, Israel agrees to allow Gaza
some fuel and supplies .. By Isabel Kershner
Published: January 21, 2008 .. page 1 of 2 ..
JERUSALEM: With international alarm and criticism mounting because of its blockade of Gaza, Defense Minister Ehud Barak of Israel announced Monday that he was lifting some of the restrictions and would allow in a week's supply of industrial diesel needed to run the local power station, as well as 50 trucks of food and medical supplies Tuesday.
The decision came as aid officials warned that Gaza was two or three days away from a health and food crisis, with fuel and electricity shortages taking effect. Barak had ordered the closure of the border crossings into Gaza on Thursday night, halting all exports, in response to the intense rocket fire last week against Israel by militant groups in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
No goods had been allowed in since, and Gaza shut down its only power station Sunday as the industrial diesel needed to fuel it ran out.
Israel and Egypt continued to provide electricity to Gaza by cable, but the closure of the local power station cut the strip's supply by at least a quarter, or by as much as 43 percent, according to different estimates of the area's needs. By Monday night, parts of Gaza City, where about a third of Gaza's population of 1.5 million reside, had been totally blacked out for 24 hours.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which provides assistance to Palestinian refugees and their descendents, announced Monday that it would have to suspend its food aid to 860,000 Gaza residents by Wednesday or Thursday if the closure was not lifted, because it was running out of the nylon bags it uses to measure out and distribute staples like pulses and flour.
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On the side of the law in Gaza, women gain a place
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/17/africa/gaza.php
Today in Africa & Middle East
Saudi prince offers Israelis a vision of peace
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/21/africa/saudi.php
Signs in Kenya that killings were planned
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/21/africa/21kenya.php
The agency had enough fuel to run its vehicles for only two or three more days, said a spokesman, Christopher Gunness.
"We had to give away about half of our reserves today, for hospital generators and the like," he said.
The international aid agency Oxfam warned in a statement issued Monday afternoon that Gaza's water and sewage systems were "a matter of hours from almost total shutdown as stocks of fuel to run vital pumps runs out."
Mahmoud Daher, a health officer for the World Health Organization in Gaza, said Monday that there was a shortage of more than a hundred types of medication, and there were no spare parts to fix broken generators.
"There is no crisis yet, but there will be one if the situation continues. We are on the edge," Daher said.
Benita Ferrero-Waldner, commissioner for external relations of the European Commission, condemned the rocket fire into Israel, but also condemned what she called Israel's "collective punishment of the people of Gaza."
A spokeswoman for the French Foreign Ministry also said that "the measures taken amount to collective punishment of the entire civilian population." The foreign secretary of Britain, David Miliband, and the international development secretary, Douglas Alexander, issued a joint statement saying that "Israeli security and justice for Palestinians will not be achieved by cutting off fuel or by firing rockets."
There were also expressions of concern from the Arab world, and the president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, called both Barak and the prime minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert, according to the official Egyptian news agency MENA.
Israeli officials said it was not Israel inflicting the collective punishment, but Hamas. "It is very interesting that we didn't hear these condemnations when the rockets were falling," said Shlomo Dror, spokesman for the Israeli Defense Ministry. "Is that not collective punishment?" he said, adding that the situation in Sderot, the Israeli town near the Gaza border that the militants aim most of their rockets at, had become "intolerable."
Despite the growing pressure, Israeli officials had insisted Monday that the Hamas leadership in Gaza was exaggerating the effects of the closure.
Arye Mekel, a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said, "What we are seeing now is a staged production by Hamas." Even with a shortage of fuel, given the amount of electricity provided by Israel and Egypt, there was no justification for the massive blackouts, Mekel said.
Israel said it would now allow in some diesel for generators, assuming it would be sent to the hospitals, and cooking gas, but was still not planning to resume supplies of gasoline for private cars.
At a meeting with members of his Kadima party on Monday, Olmert said, "As far as I'm concerned, the residents of Gaza can walk if they don't have petrol for their cars, because they have a murderous terrorist regime that won't let people in the south of Israel live in safety."
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/21/africa/mideast.php
Next Page 2 in reply ..
Bush seen as Lame Duck in Middle East Tour.
by Eternal Hope
Thu Jan 10, 2008 at 09:58:35 AM PST
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=25906436
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