We'll buy medicine for Palestinians, says Israeli PM

Israel’s prime minister Ehud Olmert denied that there was a “humanitarian crisis” in the Gaza Strip, but said Israel would buy medicine and other necessities for the Palestinians to prevent the situation becoming worse.

“We wouldn’t allow one baby to suffer one night because of a lack of dialysis,” Olmert said in an interview with the New York Times today.

International sanctions, including Israel’s refusal to transfer £30m (€44.2m) in monthly tax revenues it collects for the Palestinians, has made it impossible for the Hamas-led government to pay salaries for the past two months to its 165,000 employees, about one-third of Palestinian households.

Already in dire financial straits, the current crisis has reportedly put the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority on the verge of economic collapse.

Despite the lack of money, Hamas has so far stubbornly rejected international demands that it recognise Israel, accept past Israeli-Palestinian peace agreements and renounce violence.

The US and the European Union, which list Hamas as a terrorist organisation, are currently looking for ways to circumvent the Islamic group and get humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians.

Olmert said any medicines purchased by Israel would be given directly to hospitals, also a means of bypassing Hamas, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction.

“We will pay, if necessary, out of our own pockets,” Olmert told the paper.

Olmert’s interview comes days before he heads to Washington for his first meeting as prime minister with US president George Bush.

At the White House meeting on May 23, Olmert is expected, for the first time, to present his plan to withdraw from most of the West Bank and draw Israel’s final borders, unilaterally if necessary.

But in today’s newspaper interview, Olmert remained vague about the details of the plan – which is meant to annexe the three largest West Bank settlement blocs to Israel – reportedly because the US remains wary that the plan could be too ambitious.

“What I can talk about at this point is the basic desire to set borders for Israel, to separate from the Palestinians and to create a contiguous territory that will allow the Palestinians to fulfil their national dreams and establish their own independent state alongside the state of Israel,” Olmert said.

“We have to set borders and to define strict lines of what is right and what is wrong. It’s not just a political issue, it’s a social issue, it’s a cultural issue.”

The plan, Olmert said, would be closely co-ordinated with the US, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia – the four members of the so-called Quartet of Middle East mediators.

In the interview, Olmert appeared to leave the door open for possible talks with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the ousted Fatah Party and Hamas’ chief rival.

Olmert has said he will not hold peace talks with Abbas so long as Hamas remains in power, saying the Palestinian leader does not have the ability to implement any agreements.

Abbas, however, still wields significant authority, even though his party lost the January parliamentary election to Hamas, and the US remains in favour of Israel holding peace talks with the president.

Abbas, Olmert said, must disarm Hamas and other “terrorist organisations”, saying such a scenario would not necessarily lead to civil war.

Since Hamas’ election victory, Fatah and Hamas have come increasingly close to a civil confrontation, especially in recent days when each sent their armed forces out to Gaza’s streets, finally leading to an overnight gunfight overnight today.

“I have to say, how can any political entity tolerate the existence of many armed groups fighting against each other in the streets?” Olmert said.

Abbas “has to force Hamas to change, has to impose on Hamas the acceptance of Israel and the recognition of all agreements signed with Israel and the disarming of its militant groups, because if not, then the damage threatening the Palestinian Authority is devastating”, he said.