Mitchell, Livni Discuss Middle East Peace After Rocket Strikes

by Calev Ben-David and Jonathan Ferziger
Bloomberg
February 26, 2009

http://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/794/mitchell-livni-discuss-middle-east-peace-after

U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell met with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in Tel Aviv for talks on the peace process, hours after two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip struck the country's south.

Livni told reporters before the meeting that she and Mitchell would discuss an international conference March 2 in Egypt on aid and reconstruction efforts for Gaza. The visit to Israel is Mitchell's second since he was appointed by President Barack Obama to help broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. Mitchell will protest to Israel over obstruction of the aid, Haaretz reported, citing unidentified U.S. officials.

"Israel believes that we must provide for the Palestinians' humanitarian needs without helping Hamas, which is a terrorist organization in control of Gaza," Livni said.

Responsibility for today's rocket attacks on the town of Sderot was claimed by the Brigades of Hezbollah in Palestine, a militant Palestinian group linked to Iran. There were no injuries, an Israeli army spokesman said. Israel said it holds Hamas, the Islamic movement that controls Gaza, responsible for all rocket attacks from the Palestinian enclave.

Israel bombed smuggling tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border in retaliation for today's rocket attacks, the army said.

Hamas officials are negotiating with Egyptian mediators on a long-term cease-fire with Israel. More than 100 rockets and mortar shells have been fired into Israel since it ended a 22-day military operation against Hamas in Gaza on Jan. 18, the army said.

Clinton, Ban

The aid conference will bring together leaders and representatives of countries that have pledged to donate to aid and reconstruction efforts in Gaza. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will be among the participants.

The army said 117 trucks of food, medicine and other supplies were scheduled to pass through Israeli crossings into Gaza today.

Mitchell met today with the leader of Israel's Likud party, Benjamin Netanyahu, who is in the process of forming the next government. Tomorrow the U.S. envoy will meet with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

Efforts to agree on a cease-fire with Hamas have stalled over Israel's insistence on the release of Gilad Shalit, a soldier held captive in the coastal enclave since June 2006.

Hamas demands that Israel and Egypt relax their control over Gaza border crossings. It says Shalit's release is conditional on the liberation of hundreds of Palestinians detained by Israel.

Hamas seized control of Gaza in June 2007 after fighting broke out with the Fatah faction headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Reconciliation talks between Hamas and Fatah are scheduled to begin today in Cairo.

Reconciliation Blocked

"There were some in Hamas and Fatah who don't want a national reconciliation and that's why we are meeting now," said Nabil Shaath, a member of the Fatah delegation to the talks, in remarks published yesterday on a Fatah news Web site.

The U.S. and the European Union also consider Hamas a terrorist organization. At least 1,375 Palestinians were killed in the recent conflict, according to the Palestinian emergency services department in Gaza. Thirteen Israelis died, according to the army, and more than 800 rockets were fired into Israel during the fighting.

Related Topics:  Palestinian Rockets  |  Calev Ben-David  |  Jonathan Ferziger receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free jewish policy center mailing list