Livni: Hamas can end Gaza siege in minute's time

"Hamas can change the situation in Gaza in a minute, if they would only stop the terrorism. Hamas knows this and it is something that the Palestinian residents need to understand," said Foreign

Minister Tzipi Livni following her meeting with visiting Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen in Jerusalem on Monday afternoon.

Verhagen also met with Prime Minster Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

This is the first time Livni has addressed the siege Israel has imposed on the Gaza Strip, which prompted fierce international condemnation.

"We are working to prevent a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Israel's policy has never been to punish the civilian population for the behavior of its leadership – Israel is the only country in the world that supplies electricity to terror groups which in turn fire rockets at it," said Livni.

Livni stressed that the Palestinians must understand that terrorism will bring them no political gain: "Hamas does not represent a national Palestinian vision. This is an extremist group that does not recognize Israel's right, or the right of anyone who is not Muslim, to exist. There is no hope in terror, and there is no hope in this leadership.

"It was clear to us that the negotiations (with the Palestinian Authority) would take place under the threat of terrorism, but we differentiate the moderates from the extremists, Gaza from the West Bank. Israel will not stop its war on terror because of the negotiations. This process is a combined effort, the end of which is meant to provide security and establish a Palestinian state, if the latter complies with our stipulations."

Defense Ministry: 'In the long run, even one Qassam will be unacceptable'

The Head of the Defense Ministry's political security department, Amos Gilad, backed Livni's stance: "There is no other country that would agree to a situation wherein we are providing electricity and in return they fire Qassams at us. However, we will not allow a humanitarian crisis to develop and we are working with a monitoring system to prevent this."

Following Egyptian President Hosni's Mubarak's demand that Israel lift its siege on Gaza, Gilad said that Gaza's residents were being supplied with the necessary amount of good and Israel would continue to allow them to receive that amount to prevent a crisis. "Ultimately, the closure is subject to our discretion and its removal depends on Hamas and the continued attacks against Israel. The situation is unbearable, and therefore we have resorted to the necessary measures," he said.

According to Gilad the short-term objective is to slow the rocket barrages and in the long term reach a point where "even one Qassam rocket is unacceptable." The pressure being applied to Gaza, he said, is intended to send across a message that the current rate of fire is intolerable.

"Beyond the fact that Hamas is a terror organization, they are an organization that has a responsibility towards the public," explained Gilad, "they cannot shirk this responsibility and that is why we expect this

pressure to be effective. We are aware of the international criticism, but when facing murderous barrages like these, our top priority is the welfare of our citizens."

The Israeli Electric Company said on Monday that Israel continues to provide Gaza with 120 megawatts per day (over 60% of the Strip's consumption).