JERUSALEM — May 21, 2013 — Israel has restored the fishing zone off the coast of Gaza to six nautical miles, after reducing it to three in March.
The restriction was imposed after gunmen fired two rockets at southern Israel on March 21, one of which caused damage to the yard of a house in the town of Sderot, during a three-day visit by US President Barack Obama.
Since March, there has been an escalation of rocket fire on southern Israel after more than three months of complete quiet following a deadly confrontation in November which ended with the Egyptian-brokered truce deal.
The development came ahead of US Secretary of State John Kerry's visit Jerusalem and Ramallah on Thursday and Friday.
The top Palestinian negotiator with Israel on Monday threw his weight behind Kerry's bid to revive stalled peace talks, while describing the situation in the West Bank as apartheid worse than that suffered in South Africa.
US-brokered peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel broke down in 2010 in a dispute over continuing Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told a UN committee in New York that a settlement freeze and the release of Palestinian prisoners were not conditions for returning to negotiations, but rather obligations that Israel must fulfill.
Read the full story at The Oman Daily Observer