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The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil,    but because of the people who don't do anything about it

Occupation magazine - Life under occupation Home page  back Print  Send To friend Gaza -- only appeals by Dina Ezzat - Al-Ahram 22-28 July 2010 http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2010/1008/eg1.htm `This is what I would call nonsense,` was the reaction of Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul- Gheit to leaks carried by the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth at the weekend on a draft plan allegedly of the Israeli foreign minister to declare the Gaza Strip `an entirely independent entity` allowing Israel to drop any and all legal responsibilities towards the occupied, densely populated and extremely impoverished Strip on the Eastern border of Egypt. Abul-Gheit spoke Sunday following talks between President Hosni Mubarak and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Cairo. According to the top Egyptian diplomat, the almost three- hour meeting, that included lunch, included no discussion of the leaked Gaza plan. The leaks suggest that Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman wants to permanently seal all borders linking Israel to Gaza and get all goods necessary for Gaza to enter in or out of the Strip through a European monitored sea access route originating in Cyprus or Greece. The alleged Lieberman plan further suggests the Europeans support the construction of electric, water and sewage facilities in Gaza to make it entirely independent of Israel. The Israeli daily indicated no sign of support from Netanyahu for the Lieberman scheme. It also showed no sign that Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak supported it either. As far as Cairo is concerned, any talk about cutting off the West Bank from the Gaza Strip is a non- starter. According to Egyptian diplomats, such schemes mean two things: the first is that the Hamas authority in Gaza would be recognised as the legitimate authority; second, that Israel, the occupying power, would be relived of binding obligations under international law towards the Gaza Strip. Neither is accepted in Cairo. `We made it very clear to the Europeans that Lieberman is trying to lobby, and to the US and the UN, that we are not even concerned with this proposal,` said an Egyptian diplomat. According to a European diplomat, Lieberman did bring the scheme to the attention of European officials but has received hardly any support. Some have rejected the plan because they think it cannot work, or that it would strengthen Hamas. Others rejected it on the basis of Egyptian disinterest. `It has become very difficult to find a way out for Gaza, simply because the concerned parties cannot agree amongst themselves on a unified approach,` said the European diplomat. Speaking in Cairo, he added that while both Egypt and Israel, for example, seem to agree that Hamas should not be given any political recognition, they do not seem to agree on the way to handle the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. `And nobody can do anything when these two parties` which are the immediate and only neighbours of Gaza `cannot agree.` This week, Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign minister, was in Gaza and Israel in an attempt to find solutions for the deprived Strip. According to European sources, Ashton pressured the Israeli government to allow more goods to flow into Gaza, and insisted that these goods should go through the Israeli controlled Carnie Crossing, to the east of Gaza. The appeals of Ashton for a `further ease` of the blockade Israel has imposed on Gaza for three years -- since the Hamas take over of the Strip -- received hardly any serious response, according to sources that spoke to Al-Ahram Weekly. The top European diplomat insisted that Israeli security concerns should not conflict with the flow of goods into Gaza. `Ashton is currently discussing with [EU] foreign ministers the outcome of her talks in Gaza and Israel and a decision will be made ... but nothing big should be expected at this point,` said the European source. Meanwhile, a letter addressed to Ashton signed by an array of European NGOs ahead of her visit on Saturday and Sunday to the region demanded that the top European diplomat work to secure `ending the ban on exports from Gaza; allowing movement of people into and from Gaza; ensuring sufficient capacity and efficiency of the crossings; allowing the entry of construction materials for the private sector; and ensuring access to Gaza`s agriculture land and fishing grounds.` Sources familiar with the talks Ashton held with Israeli officials found little reason to believe that even half of this list of demands would be met. `There might be a further ease somehow; maybe more goods would be allowed and maybe the European Union would be allowed to build a few schools [in the Strip],` predicted one European diplomat. `But not much more,` he added. For its part, Egypt appears unenthusiastic about maximising its currently limited operation at the Rafah Crossing bordering Gaza. `We are not going to take the burden on behalf of Israel, and if the Palestinians want to see the end of the blockade on Gaza then they need to work out a way to reinstate the Palestinian Authority back there. This the bottom line,` stated a senior Egyptian official. ca Links to the latest articles in this section Occupation forces injure mourners following funeral of slain infant Mohammad Tamimi Nabi Saleh village assaulted - toddler shot in the head died in hospital Palestinians in the snow: thrown from home into the snow, throw snowballs and get arrested