Blair warns against Palestine's 2-state solution

Middle East envoy Tony Blair called on Wednesday for a new strategy to bring the Gaza Strip back into the peace process and warned a proposed two-state solution risked slipping away.

Blair offered few details for the future of Gaza but entertained the idea that the Islamist Hamas could either be ousted from power in elections there or could even join the political process if it drops its anti-Israeli stand.

"We need a new strategy for Gaza," Blair told foreign policy specialists at a gathering in Washington hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) think tank.

"You will not get a peace deal while Gaza remains as it is," said the former British prime minister who has served for 15 months as Middle East envoy for the quartet of the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia.

Risky solution

Israel has imposed a tight economic blockade on the Gaza Strip since Hamas seized the territory from the western-backed Palestinian Authority in June 2007 and engaged in frequent armed clashes with the Jewish state.

A shaky ceasefire in and around Gaza has been in place since June this year. Meanwhile, the rift between the Palestinian Authority, based in the West Bank, has deepened despite reconciliation talks sponsored by Egypt.

Hamas caused a major stir internationally when it won legislative elections in 2006.

The quartet has endorsed a roadmap that calls for a Palestinian state living in peace alongside a secure Israel. It has refused to deal with Hamas, which it sees as a terrorist group bent on Israel's destruction.

"I think there is a risk," Blair conceded when asked if the moment was fast approaching where a two-state solution may no longer be possible.

You need a new strategy for Gaza. You will not get a peace deal while Gaza remains as it is,

Former British prime minister Tony Blair

Easing Gaza blockade

In the meantime, Israel said it will allow some humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip on Thursday, easing a month-old closure it imposed on the Hamas-ruled territory after a surge in violence.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak authorized the delivery of 70 truckloads of food and basic supplies into Gaza and an unspecified quantity of fuel for the impoverished territory's sole power plant, his office said in a statement.

The statement said the decision was taken as a gesture of goodwill ahead of next week's Eid al-Adha, the Muslim Feast of the Sacrifice.

This would be the fourth time that Israel is opening its crossings with Gaza since violence flared on Nov. 4.

The imposition of the blockade on Gaza by Israel violates international law and constitutes collective punishment, according to the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations.

Gazans have faced severe food, medicine and energy shortages because of the Israeli blockade, receiving only about 30 percent of 2005 supply levels according to United Nations statistics.

Journalists will also be allowed to travel to and from Gaza for the first time in a month, an Israeli official said. International aid workers and Palestinians requiring medical treatment also will be allowed through, he said.

The opening of the crossings will be reviewed on a daily basis and will be subject to Palestinian militants halting their rocket fire against southern Israel, said defense ministry spokesman Peter
Lerner.

Hebron settlers

Jewish settlers prepared earlier on Wednesday to battle a forceful eviction after Israel declared a closed military area around a house in Hebron they are occupying in defiance of a court order.

The military decree followed violent protests on Tuesday involving settlers and their far right-wing supporters who hurled rocks at Palestinians, security forces, homes and cars and desecrated Muslim tombstones.

"The sector around the house has been decreed a closed military zone," a military spokesman said, adding that Israelis are now barred from entering the Palestinian areas of the southern West Bank city.

Home to the Tomb of the Patriarchs, holy both to Jews and Muslims, Hebron has stood out as a flashpoint between Palestinians and Israel, which occupied the West Bank in 1967.

Despite the closure, security forces did nothing to prevent hundreds of supporters from heading to the house in solidarity with the 100 or so defiant settlers.

Soldiers on the roof also did nothing to stop young settlers from hauling buckets filled with stones to the top of the house in preparation for an eventual confrontation.

Wild West regions

Caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made it clear the settlers will be removed. "Since the High Court ruled in favor of the evacuation, it will be evacuated," he said.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said that "Israel cannot be a state with regions that are like the Wild West. This phenomenon has to stop."

Twenty Palestinians and 18 Israelis were reported injured in clashes that started on Monday night and continued on Tuesday.

Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas said it was the responsibility of the Israeli government to end the violence.

Despite a significant police and army presence in Hebron, including an observation post on the roof of the house and a roadblock outside, security forces maintained a low profile during the latest violence and similar previous incidents.

The settler presence in the Palestinian city of 170,000 has long caused tensions. In 1994, a Jewish extremist massacred 29 Palestinian worshippers at the Tomb of the Patriarchs.

The international community considers Jewish settlements in the West Bank to be illegal, and the Palestinians say they are the biggest obstacle to Middle East peace talks.

Israel cannot be a state with regions that are like the Wild West. This phenomenon has to stop,

Israel FM Tzipi Livni