Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has recently conveyed messages to Israel voicing anger at obstacles Israel is placing to the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. According to Haaretz, a senior Israeli political source noted that close Clinton aides have made it clear that the matter will be central to her planned visit to Israel next week.
Ahead of Clinton's visit, special U.S. envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell is expected to issue a sharply worded protest on the same matter when he arrives to the region on Thursday. "Israel is not making enough effort to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza," senior U.S. officials told Israeli counterparts last week, and reiterated Washington's view by saying that "the U.S. expects Israel to meet its commitments on this matter."
Meanwhile, Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, said on Tuesday that if the Palestinians form a national unity government that includes Hamas movement, the international community should recognize it and engage with it, the Maan News Agency reported.
The statement of Abbas came in a press conference in Norway. According to him, recognizing a unity government is essential to resolve the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. He added that he hopes that internal negotiations between the Palestinian factions, slated to start Thursday in Cairo, will lead Hamas to recognize all peace deals signed between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
Abbas added that he hopes that an Israeli government headed by Likud leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, will recognize previous Palestinian-Israeli peace accords. Abbas said that such recognition will bear positive outcome.
