- UNITED NATIONS (AP)
-- Several United Nations agencies may be forced to cut back or end humanitarian
work in the Gaza Strip because of Israeli restrictions on their movement
into and out of the territory, a U.N. statement said Friday.
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- Most of the 1.3 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip
are partly dependent on aid handouts, and stopping shipments there would
be a disaster.
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- Israel has prohibited vehicles belonging to the United
Nations and other humanitarian agencies from crossing the Erez checkpoint
into Gaza for the last three weeks, the statement said, and staff must
go through on foot. Food shipments through Karni, the only commercial crossing
point in Gaza, have also been obstructed.
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- Israel's deputy U.N. ambassador, Arye Meckel, said the
mission in New York had received no complaints. He said the issue didn't
come up during a meeting this week between Secretary-General Kofi Annan
and Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, or meetings he had this week
with the U.N. envoy to the Mideast and the head of the U.N. Office for
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
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- "It would be a better idea, if the U.N. has any
complaints, that they come to us before they go to the press," Meckel
said. "Without having received any complaints nevertheless, if there
are any restrictions they must be based on the security situation there."
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- The restrictions appear to be part of stepped-up security
in the West Bank and Gaza amid an Israeli offensive before a possible withdrawal
from Gaza. Early Monday, Israel assassinated Hamas spiritual leader Sheik
Ahmed Yassin in a helicopter missile strike.
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- Militants have also stepped up attacks on the Erez crossing
point in recent months, leading to tighter restrictions there. In the latest
attack on March 6, Palestinian gunmen and suicide car bombers staged an
elaborate attack using vehicles altered to look like Israeli army jeeps.
Four attackers and two Palestinian policemen were killed.
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- "There are some limits after which we cannot go
further," said Jean-Marc Siblot, World Food Program chief for the
Palestinian territories.
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- Siblot said U.N. staff must walk through the dangerous
Erez Crossing, which can take more than four hours. Flatbed trucks that
bring food into Gaza are sometimes not allowed to leave again, meaning
agencies must pay fines for not returning them in time.
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- Pointing out the need for security checks, Meckel noted
that earlier this month, two Palestinian suicide bombers sneaked into the
port of Ashdod in a cargo container. Once there, the two detonated their
bombs and killed 10 Israelis.
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- Seven U.N. agencies are considering halting work. They
are the World Food Program, the U.N. Development Program, the World Health
Organization, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, the U.N. Children's Fund,
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the U.N.
Special Coordinator's Office.
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- Siblot said World Food Program stocks in the Gaza Strip
will last about 1 1/2 months if the situation doesn't change. The agency
provides food to about 10 percent of Gaza's residents.
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- "If they don't receive this food then the problem
for them will deteriorate extremely rapidly," Siblot said.
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- The humanitarian situation in Gaza and the West Bank
remains dire, with high employment and widespread poverty. The Palestinian
economy is totally dependent on international donors and the Palestinian
Authority is running a budget deficit of $30-40 million a month.
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004 http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3907861,00.html
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