Haaretz
Sivan 16, 5765
LONDON - World powers urged Israel on
Thursday to let Palestinians move more freely around the territories, as
foreign ministers of the Group of Eight met with Middle East peace efforts
atop their agenda.
The ministers, hosted by G8 president Britain
before next month's summit in Scotland, sought to ease Israel's planned
withdrawal from Gaza and included talks on Afghanistan and
Iran.
Ahead of the meeting, the quartet of the United States,
Russia, the European Union and United Nations urged Israel "to take
immediate steps, without endangering Israeli security... to facilitate
rehabilitation and reconstruction by easing the flow of goods and people
in and out of Gaza and the West Bank and between them."
The
mediators also said Israel and Palestinians should meet more frequently to
cement plans for Israel's pullout from Gaza this August, which they hope
will spur peace moves.
Quartet special envoy James Wolfensohn, a
former World Bank president, said he was encouraged by the way Israelis
and Palestinians were cooperating on practical problems, such as linking
Gaza to the rest of the world.
"We have moved from trying to set an
agenda to trying to deal with real issues," Wolfensohn told reporters
after addressing G8 foreign ministers.
"While there are bumps in
the road, I am infinitely more optimistic today than I was two weeks ago,"
he said.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman responded to the quartet by
saying it would do what it could to facilitate its aim of improving the
situation in Palestinian territories.
He said Israel's actions
depended on Palestinians fulfilling commitments on security, noting that a
female suicide bomber was detained without detonating her explosives
earlier this week.
The G8 ministers see an orderly evacuation from
Gaza as vital to renewing peace moves stalled by nearly 5 years of
bloodshed.
Wolfensohn, charged with reviving the Palestinian
economy after the withdrawal, presented two ideas to foreign
ministers.
He wants a Palestinian aid package during and directly
after the pullout, for jobs, houses and infrastructure. He also sought
backing for a three-year program to create state institutions.
"I
got evidence of support that my approach was correct and I hope to come up
with numbers in the next few weeks," he said.