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Israel urges international community to back Gaza boycott

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TEL AVIV, February 21 (RIA Novosti) - Israel's foreign minister has warned the international community against any attempts to review the policy of boycott and isolation with respect to the Islamic Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

Tzipi Livni discussed the situation in Gaza with her Romanian counterpart Adrian Mihai Cioroianu.

She said: "Any indirect support for Hamas - even through a discussion of the crossings or the humanitarian situation, weakens those interested in reaching an agreement. There is no future for the Palestinian people with Hamas, and Israel will continue to combat the terror it generates."

The Israeli diplomat said the Palestinian people had no future under Hamas, and that Israel would continue its anti-terrorism campaign against the Islamist group.

"Hamas is not an organization that is interested in the establishment of a state. It does not seek to win rights for the Palestinians but rather to deny the rights of others," she said.

According to the Haaretz daily, Livni's comments came after Ran Koriel, Israel's European Union ambassador, warned the Foreign Ministry of a change in the European Union's policy on Hamas due to the Gaza crisis.

Israel and the United States recently managed to thwart Switzerland's initiative for an international gathering to propose a plan to open the border passes to the Gaza Strip. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has urged Defense Minister Ehud Barak over the past two weeks to re-open border checkpoints.

Israel virtually cut off all deliveries of fuel and other essential items to Gaza a month ago, following a surge in rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip on southern Israel.

More than 230,000 Israelis live within range of Palestinian rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, and since the hard line Islamic Hamas seized power of the enclave in June last year, more than 4,200 rockets and mortar rounds have been fired at Israel's southern cities and towns.

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