By suspending badly-needed fuel deliveries to the Gaza Strip after
deadly clashes, Israel has cast doubts on the viability of the hard-won
measure aimed at helping the Palestinian people and easing tensions.
The deal, brokered by the United Nations and backed by the United
States, Israel and others, had seen thousands of litres of Qatari-bought
fuel trucked into Gaza daily to boost the impoverished territory's
electricity supply.
But only days after being brought into effect, Israeli Defence Minister
Avigdor Lieberman late Friday ordered the deliveries to stop after
clashes on the Gaza-Israel border.
Despite hopes the fuel would help ease months of deadly violence,
thousands of protestors gathered again Friday at the border fence. The
Israeli army said five people were shot dead after "an organised attack"
on an army post, using an explosive device which destroyed part of the
fence.
The Gaza health ministry said seven Palestinians were killed.
Saturday night, Lieberman said on Twitter the shipments of fuel and gas
to Gaza would only resume if there was a "total cessation of violence,
the launching of incendiary ballons (from Gaza towards Israel) and the
use of burning tyres against Israeli towns" near the enclave.
The fuel deal had been reached without the agreement of the officially
recognised Palestinian government, in what diplomats said was a first
for Gaza -- which is controlled by the rival Palestinian faction, Hamas.
And it had also raised questions on whether Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas is slowly being sidelined.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) headed by Abbas has semi autonomy in
parts of the occupied West Bank, but lost control of Gaza to Hamas in a
near-civil war in 2007.
But the PA has long been the only address for most international powers
and a senior official declared Thursday it would no longer work with the
UN envoy who brokered the deal.
- 'Humanitarian imperative' -
The UN and other parties say they are merely seeking to improve the
desperate humanitarian situation in the strip, under a crippling Israeli
blockade for a decade.
More than two thirds of Gaza's two million residents rely on aid, while there are only four hours of mains electricity a day.
Great efforts were made to convince Abbas to agree to the fuel deal, UN
and diplomatic sources said, with a decision ultimately made to work
around him.
"The humanitarian imperative is more important than the relationship with the PA," one diplomat said.
There has been criticism of the PA that it has done little to ease the
suffering of Gazans over the past decade and Abbas has even taken
punitive measures against the strip to squeeze Hamas.
But the Palestinian Authority fears the United States, which is due to
announce a peace proposal, and others may seek to further split Gaza
from the West Bank, dimming already slim hopes for a two-state solution
between a Palestinian entity and Israel.
Western diplomats fear Abbas may now take new steps, or even cut off some ties with international powers.
"We could end up choosing between working with the PA and easing the
humanitarian situation in Gaza," one diplomat in Jerusalem warned.
Abbas has not set foot in Gaza since the PA's 2007 polls defeat there, with multiple rounds of reconciliation talks failing.
The Islamist Hamas has since fought three wars with Israel and Western
powers consider it a terrorist organisation. A return to power of the
Abbas government in Gaza is seen as a key step to achieving an
independent Palestinian state.
- Ramallah 'paranoia' -
But in Gaza, Hamas has organised months of often violent border
protests, with at least 205 Palestinians and one Israeli killed since
March 30.
In a recent rare interview Hamas's Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar encouraged world powers to work with it to ease the suffering.
Egypt and the United Nations had sought a deal whereby Hamas ended the
protests in exchange for an easing of Israel's crippling blockade. But
Abbas was opposed, seeing it as tacit recognition of Hamas's control
over Gaza.
Under the limited agreement which came into force on Tuesday Qatar, a
longtime Hamas backer, was to pay $60 million for fuel to be brought
into Gaza over six months to fuel the strip's sole power plant.
At least six trucks have entered the Gaza Strip since Tuesday, bringing
more than 200,000 litres of diesel, and there had been plans for it to
reach up to 15 trucks a day.
On Thursday senior Palestinian official Ahmed Majdalani said UN envoy
Nickolay Mladenov, architect of the deal, was "no longer acceptable" to
the PA, accusing him of exceeding his mandate.
"There is a deep paranoia in Ramallah that this UN initiative is part of
a broader conspiracy between Israel, the US and the UN to have a
mini-state in Gaza and sideline Abbas," Hugh Lovatt of the European
Council on Foreign Relations think tank told AFP.
"In Europe there is no desire to sideline the PA, but there is
recognition that it has created obstacles to improving the situation in
Gaza."
Abbas has also boycotted the US administration since President Donald
Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December 2017.
Palestinians consider the eastern part of the city their capital.
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