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Israel may cut Gaza utilities

The move presents another obstacle for U.S. efforts aimed at restarting peace talks.

JERUSALEM - Israel declared the Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip an "enemy entity" on Wednesday and said it would cut utilities to the territory, complicating the U.S. plan to relaunch peace talks aimed at establishing a separate Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank.

Israel made the provocative decision hours before U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived for talks setting up what President Bush hopes will be a pivotal international Mideast peace conference this fall. Rice neither endorsed nor criticized Israel's move.

Israel did not announce a date for cutting off services. The decision is likely to reinforce perceptions among Palestinians and their Arab backers that Israel will do as it sees fit regardless of the cost to civilians, and that the United States will not block Israel's hand.

Rice said the United States is trying to help both sides reach "common understanding," but she did not say if the U.S.-sponsored peace meeting will address the hardest issues in the six-decade conflict between Israelis and the Palestinians, including the final borders of a Palestinian state.

The United States has not said exactly what it wants to achieve from the summit, nor who will attend.

Rice wants to recruit Arab states to reinforce the Palestinians in any deal they cut with Israel, but the peace session will carry little weight if key regional players such as Saudi Arabia choose to sit it out. The session also has little chance of success if Israel is seen as unwilling to make hard concessions to the Palestinians and the United States is seen as unable to force Israel's hand.

[Last modified September 20, 2007, 01:28:49]