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EU foreign policy chief applauds Israel for allowing exports out of Gaza

10 December 2010 03:21 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Catherine Ashton calls Israelâ€™s decision to allow Gaza to export goods to the West Bank and abroad â€™a positive further step in the right directionâ€™, APA reports quoting haaretz.com website.
Israelâ€™s decision to further ease its embargo on the Gaza Strip by allowing the Palestinian enclave to export goods was welcomed on Thursday by the European Union foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton.
Israelâ€™s security cabinet took the decision on Wednesday.
"Yesterdayâ€™s announcement by the government of Israel is a positive further step in the right direction," Ashtonâ€™s spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said in a statement.
Israel loosened its grip on the Palestinian enclave in June, reacting to the international outcry caused by its at-sea shooting in late May of nine Turkish activists who were trying to break the blockade.
Only last month Ashton had called on Israel to go further, explicitly calling for exports to be allowed.
But more could be done, said her office.
"Further efforts and complementary measures are needed to revitalize the Gaza economy, create jobs and strengthen the private sector," Kocijancic stressed on Thursday.
The EU is particularly looking for construction material to be legally imported into Gaza, something which Israel is reluctant to allow because it fears such material might be used not just for civilian reconstruction, but also by Hamas, the Islamist group that runs the enclave, to build bunkers.
Israel first imposed its blockade on the Gaza Strip in 2006, after militants launched a cross-border raid and snatched an Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, who is still being held.
The siege was tightened significantly a year later, when Hamas - classified as a terrorist organization by the EU and the United States - seized full control of the Strip, after routing security officers loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.