Israeli minister urges diplomats to visit Gaza

Foreign diplomats should visit Gaza and make up their own minds about the reality there, an Israeli minister said yesterday, backing an invitation extended by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

"It is important that foreign ministers, on the invitation of the Israeli foreign minister, should visit Gaza," Welfare Minister Isaac Herzog told reporters at the weekly Cabinet meeting.

"They will see for themselves that the dark picture that is portrayed from the outside is not (matched by) the facts on the ground," said the minister, who is a senior member of Israel's dovish Labour party.

Israel maintains that although life in Gaza is hard, the situation in the impoverished Palestinian territory does not amount to a humanitarian crisis.

"The situation in Gaza is not easy but one needs to remember it has been conquered by Hamas, it's being used as a terrorist base," Mr Herzog said. "That is the real tragedy of Gaza."

Last week, Israel's firebrand foreign minister suggested his Italian counterpart Franco Frattini lead a group of European ministers to Gaza on a fact-finding mission, ending what was effectively an Israeli diplomatic blockade on the Hamas-run enclave.

The proposal came just days after Israel said it was easing draconian barriers on imports to Gaza and would allow all strictly "civilian" goods into the strip while preventing weapons and certain dual-use items from entering.

Israel imposed the blockade after soldier Gilad Shalit was snatched by Gaza-based militants in June 2006 and tightened a year later after Hamas seized control of the coastal strip.

Moves to ease the siege came amid international pressure after a deadly Israeli raid on May 31 on a fleet of aid ships trying to reach Gaza that killed nine Turkish activists.

Meanwhile yesterday roars of support and a sea of yellow ribbons marked the start of a march across Israel by Gilad Shalit's family in their campaign to force the government to save the soldier who has been held in Gaza for four years.

More than 2,000 well-wishers and supporters flocked to the family's home in Mitzpe Hila near the Lebanese border in the early morning for the start of a massive cross-country march to Jerusalem, which is expected to take 12 days.

But by midday, the number of white-clad demonstrators, most of them wearing hats and T-shirts emblazoned with the words "Gilad is still alive", had mushroomed, with organisers putting the figure at around 10,000.

The aim of the march is to ramp up pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to reach a prisoner swap deal with the Hamas rulers of Gaza, who have held the soldier at a secret location since June 25, 2006.

Some carried banners reading "It's time to bring Gilad home", while others held Israeli flags as they set off on the 200-kilometre trek.

Most had a yellow ribbon tied around their wrist or onto their backpacks - yellow being the colour of the campaign for Gilad's release.

The protesters are accompanying parents Noam and Aviva Shalit and their two other children to Jerusalem, where they will set up camp outside Netanyahu's residence.

"I'm calling on the whole world to join us and march with us. We will not come back here without Gilad," said Noam Shalit, before locking his front door for the last time and setting off on the longest walk of his life.