BICOM

Key Points

• Rocket hits Ashkelon; Israel responds with strikes on tunnels
• Reports of Israeli offer on crossings in push to return captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit
• New details from Gaza: Palestinian Authority lists Fatah victims of Hamas
• Senior Israeli Defence official Amos Gilad advocates peace effort with Syria

 

Key Statements

United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan (3/2): Our aim is to boost Arab solidarity, to mobilize our backing for the Arab peace initiative and to bolster support for the Palestinian Authority under the leadership of President Mahmoud Abbas.” (Speaking at a meeting of ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Yemen and the Palestinian Authority).

Director of Political Directorate in Israel’s Ministry of Defence, Amos Gilad (3/2): “Peace with Syria, if properly realized, could weaken a coalition of extremists and weaken threats that Israel has difficulty dealing with… We have to give this a chance. Since we are already on a collision course [with Syria], it will not matter if we fail.”

Israeli Prime Minister’s Spokesman Mark Regev (3/2): “Hamas is playing with fire, and they alone will be responsible for the destruction of the quiet… The whole international community will understand that if there’s a new escalation, it will be the direct result of Hamas’s extremist, irresponsible and nihilistic behavior.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (3/2): “Hamas knows the conditions. They must renounce violence, they must recognize Israel, they must agree to abide by prior agreements. We are not able to look into the future to see whether there will be changes on the part of Hamas that [would] meet our conditions but, you know, certainly that would be a clear path for them to follow.”

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni (3/2): “We cannot miss this opportunity [for peace]… Peace is in our interest… The enforced ‘choice’ between peace and security is incorrect and anyone forcing the public to choose between the two is deluding himself, the public and does not understand the world we live in.”

 

Situation on the ground

A Grad-Katyusha-type rocket hit a residential area in Ashkelon yesterday, damaging homes. A siren sounding a few seconds before the impact sent citizens running for safe rooms and shelters. Israel responded with airstrikes on five tunnels and a Hamas outpost, having issued warnings to residents of Rafah, where most of the tunnels are based, to leave the area. Over 30 Qassam rockets, mortar shells, and Grad missiles have been fired at Israel by various groups since Hamas declared its ‘ceasefire’.

New facts are emerging about the situation in Gaza during Israel’s operation. A Palestinian Authority official in Gaza, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Prisoners Affairs Ziyad Abu Ein, has issued a list of individuals killed or maimed by Hamas during the recent conflict. The list names 11 people it claims were executed, 58 people who were shot in the feet or legs, and 112 people whose legs were broken.

In a separate development, Maxwell Gaylord, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Jerusalem, said on Monday with regard to civilian fatalities that occurred in the vicinity of an UNRWA-run school on 6 January, that the UN “would like to clarify that the shelling and all of the fatalities took place outside and not inside the school.” The statement comes following an inquiry by the Canadian Globe and Mail which came to the conclusion that all the mortars had fallen outside the school. It has been widely reported that Israel’s shells had fallen inside the school, ignoring the UN’s flag of protection.

 

Humanitarian aspects

Around 200 trucks of aid are scheduled to enter Gaza via Kerem Shalom and Karni today. This will follow a total of 218 trucks which entered on Tuesday. The trucks consisted of international humanitarian aid in addition to private sector imports of food, toiletries, and equipment for reconstruction of the electric network into Gaza. The Nahal Oz fuel depot and the conveyor belt at Karni have also been operating separately to bring fuel for the power station, as well as cooking fuel and grain into Gaza.

The daily amounts of aid and goods entering Gaza are much higher than at most times since the Hamas takeover in June 2007. Israeli spokespeople claim that currently the main limitation on the amount of aid entering Gaza is the ability of authorities and agencies within Gaza to process the aid. In the ongoing humanitarian effort, since the unilateral cease fire (18/1/2009), 63,617 tons of aid have been delivered to Gaza and 4,823,300 litres of fuel for the Gaza power station and UNRWA.

 

 

 

Diplomatic developments

Ministers of Western-allied Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Yemen, the Palestinian Authority and the UAE, met in Abu Dhabi yesterday to show support for the moderate Palestinian leadership of Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian efforts to bring a long-term ceasefire between Israel and Gaza. The meeting comes ahead of a donor conference scheduled to take place in Cairo on 22 February which have the full involvement of the West Bank-based PA.

Meanwhile, efforts are ongoing to agree a long-term set of arrangement to solidify the fragile ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas authority in Gaza. A Hamas official told Palestinian news agency Ma’an yesterday that Hamas is formulating a response to an Israeli offer to allow in 75% of the goods it currently bans from entering Gaza in exchange for the release of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. The other 25% are goods Israel considers could be used for weapons. Salah al-Bardawil, a Hamas member of parliament, told Ma’an: “We don’t oppose addressing the Shalit case in tandem with cease-fire negotiations, but we asked for explanations about the nature of the material Israel won’t let in.” If true, this would indicate a weakening of Hamas’s position, which until now has resisted any connection between the issue of captive soldier Gilad Shalit and that of the border crossings. Israel is determined to leverage Hamas’s desire to open the crossings to bring about the freedom of Shalit, who has been held hostage in Gaza without access to the Red Cross or any other international agency for two-and-a-half years. There is enormous pressure on Israel’s decision makers not to lift restrictions on Hamas-run Gaza without a deal to bring Shalit’s ordeal to an end.

On the Syrian front, Senior Israeli Defence official Amos Gilad said yesterday at the Herzliya Conference that it was imperative for Israel to try to make peace with Syria. He stated that Israel could not count on the fact that Israel’s border with Syria has been quiet since the 1973 Yom Kippur War, and stressed Syria’s role in supplying Israel’s enemies. He suggested that failure to reach peace with the current Syrian regime could lead to a conflict which would weaken Syrian President Assad and allow a more extreme government to take over in Damascus. He believes there is a chance of making peace with Syria, which would be contingent on the Ba’athist regime cutting its ties with Iran and other extremists in the region.