JERUSALEM - Israel's defense minister said he would consider reopening Gaza's border crossings if violence from the territory ceases, but defense officials warned Tuesday that such a move is a long way off. The officials said Ehud Barak's statement was aimed at bolstering the moderate Palestinian government of President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank. Barak has previously opposed opening Gaza's borders since the Hamas militant group, which often fires rockets into southern Israel, violently seized control of the area last June.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pressed Barak during a visit this week to consider easing Israel's blockade of Gaza, which has caused widespread economic hardship in the territory of 1.4 million Palestinians, the officials said. Abbas, who wants to reassert his authority in Gaza, has offered to have his forces man Gaza's border crossings to help ease the humanitarian situation while preventing direct contact between Israel and Hamas.
Israel considers Hamas a terrorist group and closed Gaza's crossings after the Islamic militant group overran Gaza. It has only let in limited humanitarian supplies since.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Abbas hope to work out a peace deal by the end of the year. But the Gaza situation threatens those efforts. The Israeli army regularly clashes with Hamas militants, and Israel has warned it won't carry out an agreement with Abbas if rockets continue to fall in southern Israel.
In new violence Tuesday, Israeli troops shot and killed two Hamas gunmen during a raid on the central Gaza Strip, Hamas said. The army said the gunmen approached troops operating against rocket launching squads.
Despite the incident, there has been a sharp drop in Gaza violence in recent weeks as Egyptian mediators try to work out a truce between Israel and Hamas.
Hamas insists that, as part of any cease-fire, Israel stop its military activity in Gaza. "The solution is a synchronized and mutual calm that includes an end to Israeli attacks and the lifting of the siege, in exchange for halting the rockets. This is a solution that can please all sides," said Taher Nunu, a spokesman for Gaza's Hamas government.
In his announcement, Barak set several conditions that must be met before restrictions at the borders would be relieved. "When conditions have matured in the future for an end to the rockets, the terror and the reduction of the weapons' smuggling, we will be willing to consider easements in the Gaza crossings through cooperation with representatives of (Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam) Fayyad's government," Barak said.
The defense officials said Israel would not be fully opening the crossings in the near future since the violence has persisted.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Tuesday that the cease-fire contacts, which involve talks on the Gaza crossings, were ongoing between Fayyad's administration, Israel and Hamas. He said the efforts to work out a deal were "complicated."
Erekat said he wasn't sure Barak's statement was serious. "Announcements are one thing and action and deeds are another thing," Erekat said.
While the sides have held numerous meetings, there has been little visible progress in the U.S.-backed peace negotiations, and Gaza is only one of several complications. The talks have been plagued by Israeli settlement construction on land Palestinians want for a future state and Palestinian violence.
Just as Rice left Israel on Monday, Israeli officials announced the construction of 800 apartments in the West Bank and another 600 in a disputed part of Jerusalem. Rice later said Israel should stop such construction projects, but to no avail.
At a U.S.-hosted peace conference in November, Israel and the Palestinians agreed to relaunch long-stalled talks and base negotiations on the 2003 "road map" peace plan. The U.S.-backed proposal calls on Israel to freeze all settlement activity and the Palestinians to rein in militants.