· Prime minister defends actions against Gaza
· UN envoy fails to secure meeting on five-day visit
[“Free Hand” rhymes with “Occupation”]
The UN’s top humanitarian, Sir John Holmes, said yesterday that the
deteriorating economic and humanitarian situation in the Palestinian
territory was a “political crisis” that needed a “political solution”.
He spoke as the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said the people of
Gaza could not live normal lives while Israelis across the border were
constantly targeted by rockets.
The UN’s top humanitarian, Sir John Holmes, said yesterday that the
deteriorating economic and humanitarian situation in the Palestinian
territory was a “political crisis” that needed a “political solution”.
He spoke as the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said the people of
Gaza could not live normal lives while Israelis across the border were
constantly targeted by rockets.
Speaking in Jerusalem at a
gathering of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish
Organisations, Olmert said Israel’s military had a “free hand” to hit
Gaza militants. “We will reach out for anyone involved in terrorism
against Israelis and will not hesitate to attack them,” he said. “That
applies to everyone, first and foremost Hamas.”
Speaking
separately at a briefing to journalists, Holmes said: “The problems
won’t be removed without a political solution.” But the under secretary
general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, who
is on a five-day visit to the region, said that as a humanitarian he
had limited control over the UN’s key political decision-making body,
the security council. “I don’t come expecting to work miracles. The
situation is extremely difficult, the politics extremely difficult.”
He
arrived in Jerusalem on Thursday at the start of a five-day visit which
took him to Gaza, the West Bank and the rocket-afflicted Israeli border
town of Sderot.
Yesterday, he was unwilling to be drawn into
finger-pointing. “I don’t think it’s helpful to get into a blame game
approach for who is responsible,” he said, when asked who should cease
hostilities first.
Israel has been blockading Hamas-controlled
Gaza for the past eight months, strangling commercial activity into and
out of the strip. The embargo has resulted in severe shortages of
building materials, forcing about $215m-worth of development projects
to be suspended. Some officials have warned of a looming public health
disaster from unrepaired, leaking sewage and water facilities.
Last
month Israel stepped up the restrictions, cutting fuel and electricity
supplies in an attempt to stop Palestinian militants firing rockets
into its territory.
Holmes demanded that the Palestinians cease
their rocket attacks, but said Israel’s blockade was “collective
punishment” which violated international humanitarian law. The blockade
also appeared to be counter to Israel’s security interests, he said.
“Are they changing people’s attitudes? It doesn’t look like it in any
significant way. It’s hard to be sure.”
But Olmert’s spokesman
said the blockade was working. Olmert was under significant political
pressure, especially from the traumatised residents of Sderot – a
target of the Palestinian rocket attacks – to strike even harder
against Hamas. “We think the international isolation of Hamas is a very
important part of the changing the regime,” the spokesman said.
When
asked about his failure to secure meetings with Israel’s defence and
foreign ministers, Holmes said: “You will have to ask them why not.” A
spokesman for the foreign affairs minister, Tzipi Livni, said a clash
of scheduling was the reason.
Holmes indicated that he saw little
prospect of a deal by the end of the year as anticipated by the
US-initiated Annapolis peace process. “There’s a disconnect between the
reality on the ground and the parallel peace process,” he said.