Clinton angry at Israeli obstacles to delivery of aid to Gaza

A senior Israeli political source revealed that US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, relayed messages through its aides to Israel last week expressing anger at the Israeli obstacles to the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and the opening of crossings.

The Israeli Haaretz newspaper quoted Wednesday this Israeli source as saying that senior Clinton aides had made it clear that the Gaza issue would be central to Clinton”s planned visit to occupied Palestinian lands next Tuesday

According to the newspaper, US officials told their Israeli counterparts last week that Israel was not making enough effort to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza and added that US expects Israel to meet its commitments on this matter.

US 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, the newspaper said.

In another context, the European campaign to lift the siege on Wednesday deplored the Israeli attempts to divert the attention of European officials from its war crimes in Gaza, asserting that such attempts would not succeed as the facts on the ground are witness to the crimes committed by Israel.

Dr. Arafat Madi, the head of the compaign, said that the allegations made by Israeli president Shimon Peres during his recent meeting with the head of the European union that the European support for the Hamas Movement was the reason for not achieving peace were obvious attempts to cover for the unprecedented series of massacres committed by Israel in Gaza.

Dr. Madi underlined that Peres reflected Israel”s fears that Europe might realize what really had happened in Gaza as well as the restrictions imposed now on the entry of humanitarian aid which exacerbates the devastating repercussions of the Israeli war.

The head of the European campaign stressed that the EU is obliged more than ever to listen to all Palestinian parties and not to be biased in favor of one party against another especially since Hamas, which Peres demands to isolate, won in democratic elections.