Israel restores normal fuel supplies to Gaza

[maddezmom]

JERUSALEM, June 18 (Reuters) - The Israeli company that provides fuel to the Gaza Strip said it restored normal supplies on Monday after Palestinians protested cutbacks to the Hamas-controlled territory.

"Beginning today, we have resumed the regular supply of fuel to the Gaza Strip," said Dor Alon, a private Israeli fuel company that supplies Gaza, reversing a decision announced on Sunday to provide fuel only to Gaza's power stations.

A representative of Palestinian petrol companies had warned on Sunday that the territory could run out of fuel for cars and cooking within two days if Israel did not restore supplies.

Israel wants to isolate Gaza after Hamas seized control of the territory in less than a week of fierce factional fighting with President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah faction.

more:http://wap.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L190866328.htm

[Eugene]

1. Israel blocks shipments bound for Gaza - letter

Source: Reuters

Israel blocks shipments bound for Gaza - letter
Mon Jun 18, 2007 5:54AM EDT

By Adam Entous

JERUSALEM, June 18 (Reuters) - Israel, the transit point
for goods entering the Gaza Strip, has ordered cargo
shipments to the Hamas-controlled territory blocked, the
Israeli customs authority said in a letter obtained by
Reuters on Monday.

Israel wants to isolate Hamas Islamists -- economically,
diplomatically and militarily -- in the Gaza Strip, while
allowing funds and trade to flow to the Western-backed
emergency government set up in the occupied West Bank
by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

"Given recent developments in the Gaza Strip and the
closure of crossings between it and Israel, I hereby
inform you that no cargo destined for the strip is to
be released until further notice," an Israeli Finance
Ministry official in charge of customs told international
customs agents in the June 17 letter.

-snip-

Under the Israeli customs order, containers arriving at
Israeli ports of entry, including southern Ashdod near
Gaza, will not be cleared through Israeli customs, said
Majdi Haj Khalil, general manager for the Palestinian
Shippers' Council.

Under the order, containers bound for the occupied
West Bank will be cleared for entry, he added.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSL187184373._CH_.2400

[maddezmom]

2. INTERVIEW-World community should not isolate Gaza - UN

INTERVIEW-World community should not isolate Gaza - UN
By Suleiman al-Khalidi

DEAD SEA, Jordan, June 18 (Reuters) - Blockading the Gaza Strip after the takeover by Hamas Islamists would worsen the humanitarian suffering of its already impoverished people, the head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said on Monday.

Karen Koning AbuZayd, commissioner general for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), warned against cutting off Gaza while letting funds flow to the Western backed emergency government set up by President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank.

"The whole international community must understand that they should not isolate this little strip of land further," AbuZayd, a U.S. national, told Reuters on the sidelines of an UNRWA meeting.

"The suffering must be alleviated by open access for people and goods to move in."

Israel, which controls Gaza's borders, seeks to isolate Hamas, but says it aims to ensure food and medicine get through.

Israel has put cargo shipments to Gaza on hold, at least while border crossings remain closed. But the Israeli firm sending fuel to Gaza said it restored normal supplies on Monday, reversing an earlier decision to supply only the power station.

more:http://wap.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L18104320.htm