President Barack Obama's new Middle East envoy George Mitchell has demanded Palestinian officials replace Hamas loyalists policing Gaza's after meeting President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank.
By Damien McElroy in Jerusalem
Last Updated: 5:53PM GMT 29 Jan 2009
President Abbas is a bitter opponent of Hamas rule in Gaza but Mr Mitchell said it was essential that the Palestinian Authority was re-established in the strip as part of any long-term truce.
He said: "To be successful in preventing the illicit traffic of arms into Gaza there must be a mechanism to allow the flow of legal goods, and that should be with the participation of the Palestinian Authority."
His trip to the Palestinian headquarters in Ramallah on the West Bank followed meetings in Jerusalem with senior Israeli leaders, including a briefing with Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi, the chief of the general staff.
The return of Palestinian officials for the first time since Hamas prevailed in a 2007 power struggle is a key Israeli demand. Israel also wants foreign monitors, probably led by Egypt, to patrol the crossings as well.
Hamas has said it will not stand in the way of an agreement that allows the rebuilding of Gaza but the return of its Western-backed rivals remains a humiliating step for the Islamic group.
In his first television appearance since the offensive was launched, Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader in Gaza, said a ceasefire deal must guarantee the lifting of Israel's siege.
Meanwhile Israel attempted a targeted assassination of a Gaza terrorist it blamed for roadside bomb attack that killed a soldier earlier in the week. Machmad Uda Chamdan Samiri, a member of the Tawhid e Jihad group that is loyal to al-Qaeda, was critically injured along with another man as his motorbike was hit from the air. Six bystanders were also injured.
The strike took place just outside of Khan Younis, the refugee town near the border with Kissufim where an Israel patrol was blown up. Despite acknowledging his al-Qaeda affiliation, Israel blamed Hamas for an attack that endangered the parallel ceasefire. "As the sole authority in the Gaza Strip, Hamas bears full responsibility for all terrorist activity originating from Gaza," a statement said.
The Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot reported yesterday that Ehud Olmert, the prime minister, conceded that Israel would evacuate up to 60,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank and hand over much of east Jerusalem as part of as part of any permanent peace deal.
The United Nations yesterday launched a £428 million appeal to help Palestinian civilians recover from Israel's attack on Gaza.
Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General, said that $613 million (£428 million) was needed urgently. He said that he was deeply moved by his visit to Gaza last week and had given his word that the UN would help.
Mr Ban said that the appeal covers the requirements of the UN and other aid organisations for the next six to nine months. It will help provide everything from medical care to clean water.
The Israeli offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers and their fighters who had been launching missile attacks on Israel killed an estimated 1,300 Palestinians, many of them civilians. The UN estimates at least 5,300 people were wounded and 21,000 homes were destroyed or badly damaged.
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