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Last update - 11:30 29/10/2007
EU warns Israel not to impose 'collective punishment' in Gaza
By Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondents
Tags: Israel, Gaza, fuel 

The European Union cautioned Israel on Monday against imposing "collective punishment" against the 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by cutting of delivery of fuel supplies to the territory.

The protest came one day after Israel began reducing fuel supplies as part of a new sanctions policy in what Israel says is a response to Palestinian rocket fire on Israeli towns from the Hamas-controlled coastal enclave.

"I think collective punishment is never a solution," Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU's commissioner for external relations, told reporters in Jerusalem.
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She said she would raise the issue in meetings with Israeli leaders during her visit.

Israel continues to allow money into the Gaza Strip from the West Bank despite increased sanctions, including the fuel reductions, on the Strip. Israel agreed last week to another shipment of funds into Gaza via the Erez crossing.

Security forces said the money was intended for salaries Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has committed to pay.

The tens of millions of shekels will pay tens of thousands of PA workers and Fatah activists' salaries. Hamas has thus far not blocked the transfer.

The Gaza Strip is experiencing a dwindling of shekels following the shutdown of some Israeli banks and the desire of others to stop activities in Gaza. Last week the Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer asked Bank Hapoalim to postpone by two months its intention to stop activity in the Strip.

Finance Minister Roni Bar-On and his Egyptian counterpart, Youssef Boutros-Ghali, suggested at an International Monetary Fund meeting in Washington last week that Israel could transfer shekels to banks in Egypt for transfer to Gaza. This would address the concerns of Israeli banks that the funds they transfer would reach terror organizations.

However security officials said recently that they opposed the plan because they would lose all control over the transfers and the money would reach the terror organizations indirectly.

Israel began Sunday to decrease its fuel supply to the Gaza Strip as part of its policy to intensify sanctions against the Hamas government.

The plan to disrupt the electricity supply to Gaza has not yet been implemented in light of a petition to the High Court of Justice Sunday by the Arab-Israeli legal advocacy center Adalah against the disruption.

The Palestinian Fuel Authority in the Gaza Strip reported Sunday that the shortfall in fuel supplies was noticeable. According to the authority, the supply of diesel has been cut from a normal level of 350,000 liters per day to 200,000 liters. Similarly, the supply of gasoline, which normally stands at 150,000 liters per day, has dropped to about 90,000 liters. Ahmed Ali, deputy chairman of the Fuel Authority, told the press Sunday that shortages would be felt in a few days, since there was sufficient fuel in Gaza Strip storage for another four days. However, Palestinians joined long lines Sunday to stock up on fuel before the imminent shortages.

Dor Alon, the Israeli firm supplying fuel to the Palestinians, acknowledged it had cut down on diesel and gasoline to the Gaza Strip on instructions from the defense establishment.

Next week, another reduction will go into effect. The Sufa crossing in the southern Gaza Strip was also closed down Sunday for an unlimited period. The passage had been operating since the Hamas takeover of the Strip in June instead of the Karni crossing that was closed down due to terror alerts. Most of the merchandise moved to the Gaza
Strip  about 100 to 120 truckloads a day went through the Sufa crossing.

Merchandise will now be able to enter the Gaza Strip only at Kerem Shalom, which has a much smaller capacity of up to 55 trucks a day.

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      1.   Adalah center makes Israelis-Arabs look like pals 03:16  |  Joseph E . 29/10/07
      2.   Yeah , Let Gazans feel what is to have their own state in Gaza 03:34  |  Joseph E . 29/10/07
      3.   Economic sanctions against Gaza should be viewed as 03:41  |  Joseph E . 29/10/07
      4.   Funds to Gaza 06:00  |  Edifice 29/10/07
      5.   Israel must, must stop everything going into Hamastan: Oil, water 06:24  |  Yoav 29/10/07
      6.   END UP IN GAS CHAMBERS 07:50  |  THE LIBRARIAN 29/10/07
      7.   Israel Allows Money For Qassams 09:13  |  Yishai Kohen 29/10/07
      8.   Israel`s thieves 10:16  |  observer 29/10/07
      9.   Edifice- off topic 10:34  |  ChanahS 29/10/07
      10.   Deja-Vu 11:18  |  Nite Owl 29/10/07
      11.   #8 The non-Observer 11:27  |  Hastaroth 29/10/07
      12.   collective punishment= aparthied 11:36  |  ravi 29/10/07
      13.   EU, Israel is imposing punishment, despite the fact that its 11:38  |  Petra 29/10/07
      14.   What`s CP? War or Reduced Energy? 11:40  |  David 29/10/07
      15.   The EU should shut up 11:41  |  Jonathan S 29/10/07
      16.   A MODEST PROPOSAL- How To Solve The Problem 11:45  |  Jay A Friedman 29/10/07
      17.   None of this would happen if the Occupied Territories were a 11:47  |  lakshmi 29/10/07
      18.   Chanah 11:47  |  Edifice 29/10/07
      19.   Deja-Vu 11:52  |  Michael 29/10/07
      20.   Serious Set Of Stones on Haaretz 12:00  |  Nite Owl 29/10/07
      21.   Edifice 18 12:03  |  ChanahS 29/10/07
      22.   Petra # 13 - I fully agree with your observation 12:06  |  Albert 29/10/07
      23.   Lakshmi`s inferiority complex # 17 12:09  |  ChanahS 29/10/07
      24.   Nazi Germany expected Jews to pay for their own death machines 12:09  |  Markus 29/10/07
      25.   Petra/13 12:12  |  Anne 29/10/07
      26.   Israel is behaving like Nazi Germany 12:13  |  Jew but human 29/10/07
      27.   #8 Observer 12:21  |  * BEN JABO 29/10/07
      28.   Raving, aka/Ravi 12:24  |  * BEN JABO 29/10/07
      29.   German reader 12:25  |  karl 29/10/07
      30.   Anne - Can we assume that YOU 12:28  |  * BEN JABO 29/10/07
      31.   Jew but stupid # 26 12:31  |  ChanahS 29/10/07
      32.   THIS ARTICLE IS ABOUT THE EC ADVISING 12:31  |  Robert 29/10/07
      33.   #26 Jew but Human (so he sez) 12:31  |  * BEN JABO 29/10/07
      34.   # 17 Lakshmi 12:33  |  Lynn 29/10/07
      35.   THE CITIZENS OF ISRAEL WARN THE EU 12:39  |  WARRIOR 29/10/07
      36.   Let EU Deliver Fuel to Gaza 12:44  |  Jane 29/10/07
      37.   Distorting LIBRARIAN #6 12:44  |  Esther 29/10/07
      38.   Sanctions on Israel 12:46  |  Roger Bannister 29/10/07
      39.   # 26 Non Jew and questionally human/don`t overextend 12:50  |  17 29/10/07
      40.   According to the news 12:51  |  Lynn 29/10/07
      41.   ESTHER#37 IS A COLLABORATER OF ISRAELS ENEMIES 12:55  |  THE LIBRARIAN 29/10/07
      42.   # 36 Jane the EU and fuel to Gaza 12:55  |  Lynn 29/10/07
      43.   R/Bannister# 38 -Indeed, just remember Dresden 12:57  |  17 29/10/07
      44.   # 26 "you people claim to be light upon nations" 12:57  |  Lynn 29/10/07
      45.   -"55 trucks a day."- 12:59  |  Freankel 29/10/07
      46.   Lynn, you forgot to mention..... 12:59  |  Yaakov Sullivan 29/10/07
      47.   Would you please stop those comparisons between Israel..... 13:01  |  Swiss (Dino) 29/10/07
      48.   Ravi 13:02  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 29/10/07
      49.   #30/BEN JABO 13:02  |  Anne 29/10/07
      50.   Bannister of London 13:03  |  Lynn 29/10/07
      51.   EU should war Hamas if Hamas quit no problem 13:06  |  Daniel 29/10/07
      52.   I`m not happy... 13:07  |  Edith 29/10/07
      53.   BOYCOTT Israel 13:09  |  Anne Ritter 29/10/07
      54.   `Roger Bannister` 13:18  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 29/10/07
      55.   Anne, stop throwing in our faces the "Geneva Conventions". 13:23  |  Svetlana 29/10/07
      56.   EU must take care of its own business 13:26  |  Frank 29/10/07
      57.   WHAT A STUPID MOVE 13:29  |  indrajaya 29/10/07
      58.   #31 13:30  |  two-sided coin 29/10/07
      59.   You won`t be going to Heaven 13:35  |  Natallie Heart 29/10/07
      60.   slipping down the bannister again 13:36  |  victor hardman 29/10/07
      61.   #12 ravi - collective punishment = apatheid SAME as coloured skin 13:45  |  CK Tan 29/10/07
      62.   I`m sick of Israel! 13:54  |  P155ED 0FF 29/10/07
      63.   #45 Anne 13:57  |  Hastaroth 29/10/07
      64.   Collective punishment 13:58  |  ben 29/10/07
      65.   How is this collective punishment if 90% of voters voted Hamas in 14:02  |  SLAVO 29/10/07
      66.   WHAT ABOUT THE COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT OF JEWS IN 14:04  |  GrossedOut 29/10/07
      67.   100% fool proof way to get Europe to understand 14:04  |  Steven 29/10/07
      68.   26 the racist that pretends to be Jewish 14:11  |  Steven 29/10/07
      69.   Do not underestimate the power of the EU, or its resolve 14:18  |  Clickfool 29/10/07
      70.   For Jane in affluent Palm Beach # 36 14:21  |  Clickfool 29/10/07