Call for Israel to lift blockade of Gaza
The Quartet – the US, Russia, UN and European Union – met yesterday in its first formal session since President Barack Obama came to office. It issued a statement as the participants attended a meeting of the G8 foreign ministers, who made an identical call for an end to all settlement construction and a lifting of the Gaza blockade.
Israel has rejected demands that it halt all settlement building, saying it must accommodate “natural growth” in the Israeli enclaves. However, the Quartet urged Israel to freeze all settlement activity, including natural growth, and to dismantle settlement outposts erected since March 2001.
