Courtesy Of: IslamOnline
16/06/2007
04:01:05 PM GMT
WASHINGTON - The US isolation of Gaza after Hamas's takeover of the impoverished strip, home to 1.5 million Palestinians, would have grave security and humanitarian consequences and backfire at the end of the day, American analysts, former and current US administration officials warned Saturday, June 16.
"We could see Gaza be the font of a much more militant radicalism than we have seen in the Palestinian community so far," Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think tank, told Reuters.
"We have not seen Al-Qaeda in the Palestinian community so far but a Gaza that has imploded would create the medium where that could really grow."
...Israeli newspapers reported Saturday that Israeli authorities said it will cut off electricity in the Gaza Strip in the days to come, holding Hamas responsible for ensuing humanitarian catastrophe.
Led by the US , the West slapped economic siege on the Palestinians since Hamas was voted to power last year, greatly affecting livelihood in the Palestinian lands.
Backfire:
Analysts warned that Washington 's "West Bank first" policy would eventually backfire.
"The options right now are very bad," said Aaron Miller, a former State Department official and Arab-Israeli specialist.
"Walling Gaza up to bring Hamas to heel is not going to work. That only will increase the desperation and sense of helplessness and open door to groups with more extremist ideologies," he said.
An Arab diplomat warned that the US isolation of Gaza would breed more disaffection among the Palestinians.
"What are we going to do with Gaza . Light it up on fire?" the diplomat told Reuters, requesting anonymity.
A senior US official acknowledged the danger of isolating the impoverished strip.
"It's tricky, I admit that. There's a fine balance," said the official.
American analysts agreed Friday, June 15, that the US intervention in the Palestinian affairs and categorization of Palestinian factions into moderates and extremists were partly to blame for the Gaza chaos and the intensifying power struggle between Fatah and Hamas, and left plans for a unified Palestinian state up in the air.
More Sufferings:
Aid groups have further expressed deep concerns at isolating the Gaza Strip, which is already hit by the worst humanitarian crisis in decades due to the west's boycott.
"Internal fighting is partly a reaction to the situation - lack of jobs and few opportunities," Rima Al Rakhawi, a Gaza-based partner of Christian Aid charity, told Reuters.
...The UN on Saturday urged Israel to reopen crossings into Gaza to avoid deepening the sufferings of the Palestinians in the tiny territory.
"The borders need to be open," John Ging, head of the UN agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), told AFP.
"We cannot collectively punish 1.5 million people in the Gaza Strip. They are already living in miserable conditions."
Israel closed all of its border crossing points with Gaza after Hamas seized control of the strip on Thursday.
The sealed crossings include the Rafah terminal on the border with Egypt -- Gaza 's only window to the outside world, raising alarm about the impact on Gaza , a tiny densely-populated territory that receives the vast majority of its food, and all its fuel and medical supplies via Israel .
"The crossings remaining closed is not an option," said Ging.
"The Gaza Strip is entirely dependent of the importation of not just aid, but also commercial trade," he said, adding that 80 percent of Gaza 's population depended on foreign aid.
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