World Jewish News

Catherine Ashton met Saturday with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in Ramallah.

EU's foreign policy chief calls for further easing of Gaza blockade, Abbas rejects call for direct talks with Israel

EU’s foreign policy chief called for the further easing of Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip on the eve of a visit to the Hamas-ruled territory.
"We've made it clear that we want to see the potential for the people of Gaza to live an ordinary life," Catherine Ashton told reporters on Saturday in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
She is on a 3-day Mideast visit, her second in four months.
"There needs to be an opening of the crossings for both people and goods to flow in both directions," she said at a joint presss conference with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
Ashton is to visit Gaza on Sunday.
Israel has taken steps to ease its four-year blockade of the territory and now says it allows the import of everything except weapons and dual-use items.
It has also begun allowing the import of building materials such as wood and cement for projects under international supervision.
"What we all are looking for is to end the suffering of our people in Gaza by lifting the siege and... by having a policy of openness that is clearly defined," Fayyad told reporters.
"What we have today is 75 percent less (volume of traffic) that what we had in the first half of 2007... That's not what we are looking for," he said.
"The economy of Gaza cannot be sustained only by importation, there needs to be exports."
Israel has said its naval blockade is necessary to prevent the Islamist Hamas movement ruling Gaza -- which is pledged to its destruction -- from shipping in military-grade weapons and longe-range rockets.
Ashton said she was open to sending European Union monitors to the crossings but that they would have to work alongside the Palestinian Authority, which Hamas violently ousted in June 2007.
"We are willing to engage in work at the crossings if there is a clear role for the European Union to play, and of course working with the Palestinian Authority," she said.
"At the moment that is not something that is on the table."
Ashton was to head to Gaza for a few hours on Sunday before returning to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
She started a three-day visit by announcing 40 million euros (52 million dollars) in direct aid to the Palestinian Authority and stressed the EU's strong commitment to both the Palestinian Authority and to a "democratic and viable Palestinian state." Statehood is "critical" for any lasting peace in the region, she said.
In Gaza, Ashton is to inspect a summer camp and a school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine, which is set to receive an additional 1 million euros in EU funding.
She also announced the launch of a joint recovery program which aims to support private sector development in Gaza territory in order to revitalize the economy.
On Saturday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejected a call by US special envoy George Mitchell to hold direct negotiations with Israel.
During a three-hour meeting Ramallah, Mitchell "did not give Israeli responses to the Palestinian questions regarding borders and security," the Fatah Central Committee member said in a statement.
"Going to direct negotiations requires that there should be progress and clear Israeli answers regarding borders and security (...) In the absence of an Israeli response to these two issues, Fatah has not changed its position regarding its refusal to hold direct negotiations," a senior Palestinian official said.
US President Barack Obama had urged Abbas in a telephone call last week to move from the current indirect or proximity talks to direct negotiations with Israel.
The US envoy met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Friday.
Mitchell said he would be visiting "several other countries" in the region in an effort to gain support for the US peace plan.
The envoy also met Saturday with Catherine Ashton.

EJP