PRESIDENT BARACK Obama’s Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, met Israeli leaders yesterday as the fate of the Gaza Strip ceasefire hung in the balance.
Hours before he arrived in Jerusalem, Israeli jets bombed smuggling tunnels along the Gaza border with Egypt, in response to a militant bomb blast against an Israeli jeep patrol the previous day, which killed an Israeli soldier.
After the Israeli air strike, militants fired a rocket into southern Israel, underlining the fragility of the truce declared unilaterally by both Israel and Hamas at the end of the Gaza war.
It was not immediately clear if the Israeli air strike marked the end of the Israeli response to the border bombing.
After talks in Jerusalem with Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, Mr Mitchell said “consolidating the ceasefire is of critical importance”. He said a longer-term truce should be based on “an end to smuggling and reopening of the crossings” into Gaza.
However, Mr Olmert made it clear that the crossings will not be reopened on a permanent basis until kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit, who is being held in captivity in Gaza, is returned.
The Israeli prime minister told Mr Mitchell that the future opening of the crossings depends on two factors: a complete cessation of militant rocket fire and an end to arms smuggling into Gaza.
Earlier, the US envoy met Israeli president Shimon Peres, who said Israeli and US interests were identical. “We must fight terrorism and simultaneously advance peace,” Mr Peres said. “Israel will not allow Hamas to destroy the chances for peace.”
Despite comments in the Israeli media that Mr Mitchell had come to “exert pressure” , the US envoy stressed that the purpose of his first regional trip was primarily “to listen”.
After talks with Palestinian Authority leaders today, Mr Mitchell will travel to Jordan and Saudi Arabia before returning home, via Europe, to brief Mr Obama and US secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
Mr Mitchell arrived in Israel from Cairo, where ongoing separate contacts with Hamas and Israeli officials are continuing in an effort to reach a permanent ceasefire.
A member of the Hamas delegation, Salah al-Bardawil, said yesterday that the organisation rejects two key Israeli demands: the setting up of a 500-yard demilitarised zone in the Gaza Strip and the release of Gilad Shalit.
Mr Mitchell likes to relate the story of when he spoke recently at a conference in Israel, telling the audience he had helped solve the conflict in Northern Ireland 800 years after the British began their domination of Ireland.
After his speech, Mr Mitchell was approached by an audience member who asked, “Did you say 800 years? Such a recent conflict. No wonder you settled it.” The anecdote reflects the pessimism of many commentators who are not convinced by Mr Mitchell’s assertion that “there is no such thing as a conflict that can’t be ended”.