The West Asia envoy Tony Blair said on Thursday he believes Israel would consider an international presence along the Gaza Strip’s borders to allow the entry of goods other than weapons into the territory.
In an interview with the PBS Charlie Rose television show, Mr Blair also said he believes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government will permit everything but weapons or weapons-related items to enter the strip.
Mr Blair said he understands Benjamin Netanyahu wants to maintain the blockade insofar as it prevents arms from entering the radical Hamas-run enclave that borders Israel in the north and east, and Egypt in the south.
“But everything else should be able to come in for daily life for the ordinary aspects of proper living for people in Gaza. So you would move from a permitted list of items to then a prohibited list,” he said. “Things go in unless it’s on a prohibited list. If we get that changed, that’s a big step forward,” he added.
We can add to that in respect to things like cement and steel piping and other things necessary for construction,” he said.
“The construction material goes in, but goes in for the designated United Nations projects of reconstruction,” he added.
Israel has been leery of allowing cement and other material in for fear Hamas might use it for military purposes.