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On 19 June 2008, Hamas and Israel agreed a six-month ceasefire leading to an easing of the restrictions on the opening of Gaza's borders. These have been virtually closed by Israel on security grounds since Hamas seized power in Gaza a year ago. The takeover of Gaza by Hamas was neither justified nor acceptable. We welcome the ceasefire brokered by Egypt and call on all parties to abide by it and to use this opportunity to move the peace process forward.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza has been acute. Food, fuel and water have been in short supply and the public health system has been under severe pressure. Israel has obligations to ensure the health and welfare of the Palestinian population, which it has not met. We believe this situation was allowed to continue for too long and that the Quartet did not exert sufficient pressure on Israel to open the crossings.
We are pleased that donors have begun to re-engage with the Palestinian Authority (PA). The PA has agreed to undertake a number of necessary reforms and has established a strategy for doing so. However the economic forecasts remain poor without a fundamental change in the current restrictions on movement and access. In our last report in 2007 we called for the implementation of the 2005 Agreement on Movement and Access. This has not yet happened. Instead, there has been a steady increase in restrictions in the West Bank and the closure of Gaza's borders.
The continued expansion of settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem and the construction of the Barrier on occupied land rather than along the Green Line are worrying. These serve to create new "facts on the ground" whose removal the Palestinian Authority will have to negotiate. Such activities are illegal and counter-productive to the peace process.
Attempts by the Middle East Quartet Representative Rt Hon Tony Blair to reduce strategic checkpoints are a welcome first step. But it is important for Palestinians to be able to move around their own country for education, to receive healthcare, to visit their families, to work and to trade, irrespective of whether their journeys are regarded as strategically significant to international negotiations. Neither Israel nor the international community should lose sight of this.
We welcome the Quartet Representative's initiatives in support of economic development in the West Bank. These will help to build confidence in the Palestinian economy. However they must be compatible with sustainable economic development and the creation of a viable, contiguous Palestinian state alongside Israel and must not risk legitimising the occupation.
The 2007 Annapolis process envisages a peace agreement by the end of 2008. The Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, and the government he appointed are working towards this goal. However without some kind of reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah it is difficult to see how such an agreement will be accepted by the Palestinian people who elected a Hamas parliamentary majority in 2006. The current truce between Israel and Hamas offers the international community an opportunity to begin a dialogue with Hamas with the objective of moving towards its acceptance of the Quartet's three principles and a functional working relationship with Fatah. Annapolis will not succeed without such progress. We urge the UK Government to seize this opportunity.
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