For first time in three years, Israel eases Gaza blockade

Jun 21, 2010, 15:12 GMT

Gaza/Tel Aviv - For the first time in three years - and three weeks after it lethally intercepted a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, sparking worldwide condemnation - Israel on Monday eased its stringent blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Dozens of trucks carrying goods previously banned from passing through Israeli-controlled border crossings entered the impoverished coastal enclave Monday, as Israel began implementation of a Sunday cabinet decision to allow more shipments.

By the late afternoon, more than 150 trucks had passed through the southern Kerem Shalom Crossing, said an official at the Israeli military department that coordinates the flow of goods into Gaza.

More trucks, including some transporting previously banned gravel for construction, entered through the Karni crossing east of Gaza City, she told the German Press Agency dpa.

Previously, an average of 80 to 100 trucks with essential humanitarian aid entered Gaza daily, she said. Now, Israel plans to increase that capacity by some 30 per cent each day, with the aim of at least 400 trucks entering Gaza daily within two weeks.

Under the new policy, a 'positive' list that only allowed some 114 essential items into Gaza has been replaced with a 'black list' of items considered a security risk.

The military official said it took time for the new policy to be fully implemented, not only because staff at the crossings needed to 'get accustomed' to processing larger amounts of cargo, but also because Palestinian merchants had only now begun ordering more goods from their Israeli counterparts.

'Everything is allowed in now, from beverages, food, clothing and shoes to toys,' said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she was not authorised to speak to the media.

But she noted an exception for 'cement and iron and things that can be used for terror - that too can go in but only under supervision of international organisations, so that they can guarantee that they won't be used for terror.'

A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that, while Israel was now significantly easing the import of goods into Gaza, a decision regarding the export of goods and the flow of people, including businessmen, had yet to be taken.

Rights groups have widely criticised the near-total ban on the export of goods from Gaza, as well the restrictions on the movement of people. Palestinian groups have also said that Israel's moves do not go nearly far enough.

While the European Union and Middle East envoy Tony Blair welcomed the Israeli concession, others criticised it, including Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni, who accused Netanyahu of 'political blindness.'

Noam Shalit, the father of an Israeli soldier held captive in Gaza since 2006, called it 'another failure' of the Israeli leadership.

Israel had imposed the blockade in a bid to pressure Gazans into: ending rocket and mortar attacks at Israel's southern communities; stopping support for the radical Islamist Hamas movement ruling the strip; and into freeing Gilad Shalit, captured in a cross-border raid led by Hamas.

Blair said Sunday that the cabinet decision 'allows the government of Israel and the prime minister to maintain their absolute determination to protect Israel's security, whilst improving significantly the lives of people in Gaza.'

Netanyahu amplified this point Monday, telling a parliamentary committee that the decision to ease the restrictions on civilian goods would allow Israel to concentrate on preventing Hamas from getting weapons smuggled into the salient.

'The cabinet decision is aimed at this, at tightening the security blockade,' he was quoted as telling the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee.

But Livni, foreign minister in the previous Israeli government, which first imposed the blockade, accused the premier of 'political blindness and giving up.'

'Today Hamas receives legitimacy and Israel loses it,' she said.