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American pressure thwarts UN censure of Gaza Strip blockade
By Shlomo Shamir and Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondents, and
News Agencies
21/01/08 "
Haaretz."
-- - -The United Nations Security Council will not approve a
resolution condemning Israel over the closure of the Gaza Strip,
due to pressure applied by the United States.
The council will instead issue a Presidential Statement on the
matter when it meets to discuss the situation in Gaza.
According to a draft of the statement obtained by Haaretz, the
Security Council will express "its deep concern about the
deterioration of the situation in the occupied Palestinian
territory."
"The Security Council also expresses concern in particular about
the steep deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the
Gaza Strip, due to the continued closure of all of the Gaza
Strip border crossings and the recent decision by the Israeli
government to reduce fuel supplies, to cut off electric power,
and to prevent the delivery of food and medical supplies to the
Gaza Strip," the draft says.
"The Security Council calls upon Israel to abide by its
obligations under international law including humanitarian and
human rights law and immediately cease all its illegal measures
and practices against the Palestinian civilian population in the
Gaza Strip," continued the draft statement.
Israel was deeply concerned by Arab states' effort to win UN
Security Council condemnation of the sanctions imposed by
Jerusalem on the Gaza Strip, in response to the massive Qassam
rocket fire southern Israeli communities have sustained in the
past week.
Foreign Ministry Director-General Aaron Abramovich had
instructed Israel's delegation at the UN headquarters in New
York to oppose any Security Council on Gaza, while "emphasizing
the damage and suffering caused by the incessant firing of
Qassam rockets."
"A situation in which the Security Council debates the plight of
the residents of Gaza, while completely ignoring the situation
of Israelis living under the constant threat of Qassam rockets,
is totally unacceptable," Abramovich said.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday she had
spoken to the Israeli officials and urged them to avert a
humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
"Nobody wants innocent Gazans to suffer and so we have spoken to
the Israelis about the importance of not allowing a humanitarian
crisis to unfold there," Rice told reporters traveling with her
to Berlin for a meeting on Iran.
Rice said ultimately Hamas was to blame for the situation in
Gaza. She said the Israelis were dealing with an "intolerable"
situation, with the firing of rockets and the anxiety and terror
that came with that.
She said there needed to be creative solutions to the problem
and referred to the Quartet's suggestion to allow the
Palestinian Authority to play a greater role at the crossings.
Ahmadinejad calls Mubarak for first time over Gaza situation
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad telephoned his Egyptian
counterpart for the first time and discussed the situation in
the Gaza strip in the latest sign of warming ties between the
two long time Middle East rivals, the official Iranian News
Agency reported Tuesday.
Ahmadinejad and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak discussed the
crisis in Gaza and called for the lifting of the siege on Gaza
and the dispatch of fuel and medicine to the Palestinians, the
Egyptian state news agency confirmed.
This was the first time Iranian president had ever spoken by
phone to his Egyptian counterpart and the call comes as Iran has
been pushing for improving ties between the two countries which
were severed in 1979.
Tehran cut diplomatic ties after Cairo signed a peace agreement
with Israel and provided asylum for the deposed Iranian Shah
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
Egypt has always maintained that normal ties with Iran would
come only after Iran stopped meddling in internal affairs of
Arab countries.
Iran's support for Iraqi Shiites, Lebanon's Hezbollah and
Palestinian radical Hamas group has further deteriorated
relations, resulting in very limited diplomatic contacts between
the two countries.
Early this month, however, top level Iranian envoy Ali Larijani
came to Cairo and met with Egyptian officials. His trip followed
an exchange of visits by the countries' deputy foreign ministers
in September and October.
Ahmadinejad has repeatedly offered to restore ties, something
Egypt says it is considering, while noting that full diplomatic
relations could only be restored if Iran takes down a large
mural of former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's assassin,
Khaled el-Islambouli, and change the name of a street honoring
him.
The U.S. has repeatedly warned Arab countries of Iran's designs
on the region.
© Copyright 2008 Haaretz. All rights reserved
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