Hamas stops busload of children

37 from Gaza were to spend week in Israel to foster peace

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Gaza's Hamas rulers prevented a group of children from entering Israel on Sunday for a postwar conciliatory trip meant to foster peace, Hamas and organizers said.

The 37 children, most of whom have lost a parent in fighting between Hamas and Israel, were to enter Israel on Sunday and spend a week visiting Jewish and Arab communities and a zoo. They were also going to travel to the West Bank for a meeting with the Palestinian president.

But a bus carrying the children and their adult chaperones was turned back when it reached the main crossing between Gaza and Israel. Hamas spokesman Eyad Bozum said the decision was made "to protect the culture of our children and our people" from normalizing relations with Israel. He said Hamas would make sure such a trip "will never happen again."

Israel and Hamas fought a 50-day war this summer that killed more than 2,100 Palestinians and caused heavy damage in the impoverished coastal enclave. On the Israeli side, the fighting killed 72 people and disrupted the lives of millions of people.

Yoel Marshak, an Israeli organizer, said the visit was meant to a show a positive side of Israel and promote peace.

"These children will one day be the leaders of Gaza and they would have remembered this trip and known that we can live in peace, side by side," he said.

Marshak said he received written approval for the trip three weeks ago from Hamas and that the cancellation came as a surprise. He said he and other organizers were working to reorganize the trip.

Said Abu Luli, 13, a Palestinian boy whose father was killed in an electrical accident in 2009, said he was disappointed he could not make the trip.

"I was very happy that I will go and was saddened when we were prevented," he said in a telephone interview. "I was hoping to visit the places in the West Bank and our lands in Palestine," he added.

The Palestinians are also pressing for a U.N. Security Council vote this week on a resolution that would call for an end to Israel's occupation within three years.

A resolution with such a timetable is almost certain to be rejected by the Security Council -- either by a failure to get the minimum nine "yes" votes required or by a veto from the United States, Israel's closest ally, which insists there must be a negotiated solution to the conflict.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said a draft resolution would be submitted to the Security Council today. A vote could be set for Tuesday.

Jordan's U.N. ambassador, the Arab representative on the Security Council, has said repeatedly that Jordan wants a consensus resolution agreed to by all 15 council members.

Information for this article was contributed by Tia Goldenberg, Mohammed Daraghmeh and staff members of The Associated Press.

A Section on 12/29/2014

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