September 20, 2007	Thursday	Ramazan 07, 1428

JERUSALEM, Sept 19: Israel branded Gaza a “hostile entity” on Wednesday, clearing the way for shutting off basic supplies to the Hamas-run territory in response to rockets.Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas blasted the “arbitrary”decision that would increase the suffering of Gaza’s 1.5 million residents, while the Western-shunned Hamas said it was “collective punishment.” ”Following extensive legal consultations, Israel has decided to declare Gaza as a hostile entity, with all the international implications,” a senior Israeli official said that after a meeting of Israel’s powerful security cabinet.

An official statement said the unanimous decision would affect supplies of electricity and fuel to the territory, where Hamas seized control three months ago. Israel provides Gaza with the majority of both.

“Restrictions will also be placed on the movement of people to and from the Gaza Strip,” the statement said.

The official said the cabinet did not take any immediate decisions to turn off the taps, but that the move “clears the way for the government to do so.” Any decision to halt or decrease supplies will be made “while taking into account both the humanitarian aspects relevant to the Gaza Strip and the intention to avoid a humanitarian crisis,” the statement said.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who arrived on her latest peace mission to the region on Wednesday, said Hamas was “indeed a hostile entity. It is a hostile entity to the US as well.” But Washington “will not abandon the innocent Palestinians in Gaza and indeed will make every effort to deal with their humanitarian needs,” she told reporters during a press conference with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

Abbas, whom Washington’s top diplomat is due to meet on Thursday in Ramallah, condemned “this arbitrary decision (that) will contribute to reinforcing the asphyxiating blockade that is hitting 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and aggravate their suffering.

A spokesman for the Palestinian presidency said in a statement that “the decision of the Israeli government comes back to make the Palestinian people pay for acts they have nothing to do with and for which they do not carry any responsibility.” A spokesman for the Islamists — sworn to Israel’s destruction and shunned as a terror group by the European Union, Israel and the United States — slammed Wednesday’s decision.

“We completely reject this collective punishment,” Taher al-Nunu said.

A senior UN official in Jerusalem said: “We view any such actions against a civilian population as running contrary to international law.

“Israel is still deemed the occupying power of the Gaza Strip because it completely controls the air, land and sea crossings and therefore has a responsibility toward the population and has to continue supplying basic utilities,” said the official, who declined to be identified.

“The UN condemns the indiscriminate launching of missiles against Israel, but you just can’t do this. This is illegal under international law.” Israeli ministers have for weeks called for a reduction in the supply of the basic utilities to Gaza as a “price tag” for

the continuing rocket fire from the territory.

Although the frequent rocket attacks fired from the Gaza Strip are rarely carried out by Hamas, Israel holds the group responsible, claiming it does nothing to stop them.

Israel, which withdrew troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005 after a 38-year occupation, has been unable to stamp out rocket fire by militants despite waging regular military incursions into the largely lawless coastal strip.

Although most of the homemade projectiles strike open areas without causing damage, some hit their targets, leaving Israeli communities near Gaza in a state of perpetual anxiety.

Last week, a rocket smashed into the middle of an army camp in southern Israel, wounding 69 sleeping soldiers, most of them lightly.

Over the past week, Hamas has made efforts to curb the rocket fire.

Last Thursday it called on militant groups to stop firing rockets at border crossings with Israel and on Wednesday it suggested a truce should be resumed between the two sides.

“We are committed to a mutual ceasefire,” Nunu said.

Israel’s Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai said earlier this week that the government should study the possibility of a truce, but that the rocket fire needed to first stop for a period of one to two weeks.—AFP