UN calls for Israel to change policy in Gaza Strip (Roundup)

Jun 15, 2010, 18:31 GMT

New York - An international consensus has emerged demanding that Israel lift the blockade of Gaza Strip and replace it with a 'different and more positive strategy,' the UN said Tuesday.

'The flotilla crisis is the latest symptom of a failed policy,' said Robert Serry, the UN special envoy for Middle East peace process.

'The situation in Gaza is unsustainable and the current policy is unacceptable and counter-productive, and requires a different, more positive strategy,' Serry said during a UN Security Council session on the Middle East.

'The closure and blockade of the Gaza Strip needs to come to an end,' he said. 'There is now a welcome international consensus on Gaza.'

He said the quartet - the UN, the European Union, Russia and the US - has agreed that there must be a 'fundamental change' to the situation in Gaza, which has been under Israeli blockade since Hamas took over the territory three years ago. The quartet is leading the diplomatic campaign to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Serry informed the council that the UN will take charge of distributing the cargo of humanitarian supplies in the three Turkish vessels that were seized by Israeli forces before they reached Gaza Strip on May 31.

He said Turkish ship owners and Israeli authorities have agreed to hand the entire cargo of supplies over to the UN for timely distribution in Gaza.

'The UN is ready to accept the responsibility on an exceptional basis,' Serry said. He said the size of the humanitarian cargo is small compared with the needs of Palestinians in Gaza.

He said it was agreed by both sides that the UN alone will determine the 'appropriate humanitarian use in Gaza.'

'We have reason to believe that the de facto authorities in Gaza will respect the independence of the UN programming in this regard,' Serry said in a briefing on the May 31 flotilla incident. 'I appreciate the constructive role played by the government of Turkey in facilitating this process.'

The three-ship flotilla tried to break the Israeli maritime blockade of Gaza, but it was stopped by the Israeli airborne and naval raid that resulted in the deaths of eight Turkish citizens and one Turkish-American. More than 30 people were injured, including Israeli military personnel.

Israel has insisted on screening all Gaza-bound cargo to prevent the import of missiles, cement, metal goods and other material that could be used for weapons or fortresses by the Hamas government.