High Court to hold emergency session on Gaza blockade
The High Court of Justice has called an emergency session to discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip following the blockade imposed on the territory. The session is slated to take place on Sunday and judges will deliberate appeals submitted by Palestinian and Israeli human rights groups.
The court has rejected similar appeals in the past and judges have approved the temporary withholding of fuel from the Strip.
The decision came as Egyptian security forces were turning back hundreds of Palestinian cars that were attempting to pass into Egypt through the ruined Rafah border. The security personnel were hitting the vehicles with clubs and ordering the Palestinians to return to their homes in Gaza.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced his concern of a mounting humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Ban - who was speaking with President Shimon Peres and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in Davos, Switzerland - qualified his statement, asserting that Israel had the right to defend itself.
According to Army Radio, Peres replied that Israel would not allow the situation in the Strip to deteriorate to hunger and would not collectively punish the population there.
Livni made it clear that Hamas could not be a part of the negotiations. "We are holding clandestine talks with the Palestinian Authority so that the [two] sides can arrive at an agreement on all the issues on the agenda.
Earlier, US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns declared that Egypt was responsible for restoring order to the Gaza border, Army Radio reported. The residents of the Strip, he said, had become prisoners of the Hamas government. Burns, who was speaking to Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz, added that Kassam rocket fire from Gaza must stop immediately.
Meanwhile, Construction and Housing Minister Ze'ev Boim said that Israel must retake control of the Philadelphi corridor, most likely with the coordination of Egypt, Europe and the US.
Boim told Israel Radio that Egypt could supervise the border and use the current situation at the Rafah crossing to "fix their non-compliance with the existing border agreement Israel was ordered to obey."
The construction and housing minister went on to say that the current blockade imposed on the Strip was "meaningless" because there were no restrictions to what as being smuggled in.
He added that Israel must be allowed to eliminate all involved in terror activity including those considered members of the Palestinian "political echelons."
Deputy Defense minister Matan Vilnai said that Israel wants to relinquish all responsibility for the Gaza Strip, including the supply of electricity and water, now that the territory's southern border with Egypt has been blown open.
"We need to understand that when Gaza is open to the other side we lose responsibility for it," Vilnai said, according to his office. "So we want to disconnect from it."
"We want to stop supplying electricity to them, stop supplying them with water and medicine, so that it would come from another place," continued the deputy defense minister.
However, Israel will continue to be responsible for the flow of such supplies into the Gaza Strip until an alternative is found, the office quoted him as saying.
While, the Egyptian security forces were blocking the Palestinians' entry, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak instructed his forces at the border to detain any Palestinian who illegally crossed the border.
Mubarak's statement came several hours after the Egyptian Foreign Ministry announced that Egypt does not intend to shut off the wide-open Rafah border with the Gaza Strip.
Egypt's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassam Zaki told CNN that the border will remain open "as long as this is a humanitarian crisis."
After the "shopping spree," Zaki said, "We expect everyone to go back to Gaza to their homes within a short period of time."
"We are not opening the Rafah crossing just for everybody to cross - we're opening it because it's a very dire humanitarian situation," he added.
Hamas leaders on Wednesday called for an "urgent and speedy" meeting with representatives of Egypt and the Palestinian Authority to work out new, shared arrangements to control the border crossing in Rafah.
The call came shortly after Palestinian gunmen blew up large parts of the wall separating the Gaza Strip from Sinai, enabling tens of thousands of Palestinians to cross freely into Egyptian territory.
Palestinian and Egyptian sources estimated that some 300,000 Palestinians entered Egypt during the day. Although many had returned home by nightfall, the sources said thousands planned to spend the night in Egypt.
Also Thursday, UNRWA, the United Nations agency aiding Palestinian refugees, urged Arab Gulf countries Thursday to provide about $ 9.8 million in aid money for Gaza.
The money would buy food, medicine and other supplies for Palestinians - especially children and pregnant women - suffering under the blockade of Gaza, said Peter Ford, a representative for UNRWA's commissioner general. It would also fund fuel for hospitals and cash assistance to the needy, he said.
"The siege has led to a significant increase in the burden on Palestinian civilians," Ford said.
AP and Khaled Abu Toameh contributed to this report
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