Qatar's offer to help rebuild Gaza is snubbed by Netanyahu

Government fears that conditions of Gulf state's deal would benefit Hamas

By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem

 

Israel has turned down an offer from Qatar for a reopening of diplomatic contacts between the two countries in return for the Gulf state being allowed to import supplies to Gaza to carry out a series of badly needed reconstruction projects.

Qatar had proposed a major thawing of relations between the two countries in which Israel would have been allowed to reopen its official interests office, shut down on the orders of the emirate during the military onslaught on Gaza in January 2009.

But in return it wanted an easing of the three-year blockade of Gaza to allow a major increase in imports of cement and construction materials to start rebuilding war-ravaged sectors of the besieged territory.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was initially attracted by the proposal in what would have been the first step since he took office towards "normalisation" in relations between his country and an Arab state that does not officially recognise it.

But senior government officials have confirmed that he and other key ministers were not prepared to accept the conditions set by Qatar's royal family on the grounds that some of the materials might have fallen into the hands of Hamas, and used for military purposes.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/qatars-offer-to-help-rebuild-gaza-is-snubbed-by-netanyahu-1979974.html

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