UN chief crosses into Gaza in peace tour

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon crossed into the Gaza Strip on Sunday for an hours-long visit as part of a regional tour aimed at reviving the Middle East peace process, an AFP reporter said.

Ban crossed through Erez crossing that links Israel and the Palestinian enclave. He was met by a small group of people waving Palestinian flags.

Ban was to make his second visit to the Gaza Strip since the 22-day war ended in January 2009 as part of a regional tour aimed at reviving the peace process, which ground to a halt when the fighting broke out.

"I'll go to Gaza... to express my solidarity with the plight of the Palestinian people there and to underscore the need to end the blockade," Ban told reporters in the occupied West Bank on Saturday.

Israel tightened its blockade on Gaza after the Islamist Hamas movement violently seized power there in June 2007, and has said the border closures are necessary to contain the group, which is pledged to its destruction.

But Ban insisted ahead of a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres on Saturday that the closures imposed "unacceptable hardships" on civilians.

"I understand and share Israel's concerns about the challenges posed by Hamas, but Israel's blockade continues to impose unacceptable hardships while empowering extremists," he said.

"I am confident the blockade can be lifted while addressing Israel's legitimate security concerns."

I'll go to Gaza... to express my solidarity with the plight of the Palestinian people there and to underscore the need to end the blockade

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon

Mostly quiet

Gaza's borders have been mostly quiet since the end of the war, in which some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed, but the closures have prevented the rebuilding of thousands of homes that were damaged or destroyed.

The military offensive in December 2008 and January 2009 largely succeeded in halting near-daily rocket attacks that were rarely lethal but left Israelis living near Gaza's borders in a constant state of fear.

However, in the past three days several rockets have slammed into Israel, with one killing a Thai labourer, the first casualty of the rocket attacks since the fighting was ended by unilateral ceasefires.

Hamas has taken steps to rein in the rocket fire since the war, and the deadly attack was claimed by a radical al-Qaeda-inspired group which has clashed with Hamas in the past.

Ban's visit comes as part of a two-day regional tour in which he encouraged Israeli and Palestinian leaders to revive the peace process.

No Israeli concessions

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Sunday ahead of a trip to the United States that there would be no Israeli concessions on settlement building in east Jerusalem.

Netanyahu made the comments as U.S. envoy George Mitchell arrived in Israel on a new mission to try to revive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Speaking ahead of the weekly cabinet meeting he said Israeli policies concerning construction have not changed over the past 42 years, and were the same in Jerusalem and in Tel Aviv.

"Our policy on Jerusalem is the same as all previous governments of Israel for the last 42 years, it has not changed," said Netanyahu.

"As far as we are concerned building in Jerusalem is the same as building in Tel Aviv and this is something we have made very clear to the U.S. administration," he said.

The hardline prime minister said he had spelled out his position in a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who had demanded a series of Israeli steps to end a crisis over Israeli building the Holy City.

Our policy on Jerusalem is the same as all previous governments of Israel for the last 42 years, it has not changed

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu