MIDDLE EAST: Condoleezza Rice and Tzipi Livni promise humanitarian needs will be met in Gaza Strip, which Israel earlier labelled an "enemy entity"

United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Wednesday (September 19) as part of a round of talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in the run up to the peace conference slated for the Autumn. Beginning a visit to the region, Rice said "critical issues" would be tackled at the Middle East conference, a meeting that Palestinians hope will move them closer to statehood. She said she hoped her trip would build momentum ahead of the gathering and bridge differences on core matters, borders, Jerusalem, refugees and security. Upon Rice's arrival to the region, Israel declared the Gaza Strip an "enemy entity" and said it would reduce its fuel and power supplies to the Hamas-run territory in response to rocket attacks by Palestinian militants. Hamas described the move as a declaration of war. Livni, who held talks with Rice, said "all the needs that are more than the humanitarian needs will not be supplied by Israel to the Gaza Strip". Asked about the Israeli move, Rice told a news conference in Jerusalem that Washington considered Hamas to be a "hostile entity" but pledged the United States "would not abandon the innocent Palestinians", a reference to humanitarian aid. Hamas Islamists seized control of the Gaza Strip by Abbas's Fatah faction in fighting in June. Hamas has spurned Western calls to recognise Israel and renounce violence. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said his security cabinet approved the "enemy entity" classification and there would be "limitations on imports to the Gaza Strip and a reduction in the supply of fuel and electricity". It gave no starting date for the sanctions, saying they would be implemented after Israeli authorities examined the legal and humanitarian ramifications. Rice later met Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, and Iraeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu. Rice is due to visit the occupied West Bank for a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

ITN Source | September 20, 2007

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