Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini discussed on Tuesday ways to help put a stop to arms smuggling into Gaza. The Prime Minister reiterated his gratitude to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi for his recent visit here and for Italy's commitment to joining the operation to prevent smuggling.
Foreign Minister Frattini said that Italy is prepared to provide experts and equipment to make the anti-smuggling operations as effective as possible. The two men also discussed humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
Prime Minister Olmert emphasized that Hamas bears full responsibility for the devastation in the Gaza Strip and for attacks on innocents. He added that Hamas cannot be allowed to lead the reconstruction process in Gaza, in which it would consequently gain some measure of legitimacy.
Israel believes that the reconstruction process must be led by international organizations in cooperation with the United Nations, Egypt, and the Palestinian Authority.
On Monday, six European leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, expressed in a joint statement to the governments of Israel and Egypt their willingness to implement measures that would contribute to the end of weapons smuggling into Gaza.
Contrary to the European leaders’ enthusiasm, IDF reserve general and former head of the Israel Security Council Giora Eiland said last Thursday that the only way to hermetically seal the Philadelphi smuggling route along the border between Egypt and Gaza is for Cairo to establish a security zone. "No one would be allowed in the area and only one road would be available," he told Voice of Israel government radio.
Eiland categorically stated that no amount of technology and foreign forces could stop the smuggling, a condition that Israel had originally imposed as a condition for a ceasefire in Gaza.