World leaders call for halt violence in Gaza

Where were they yesterday??

 

World leaders call for halt to violence
Dec. 27, 2008
AP, jpost.com staff and Jonny Paul , THE JERUSALEM POST

 

World leaders appealed for a halt to violence in Israel and the Gaza Strip on Saturday after at least 190 Palestinians were killed in an IDF offensive against Hamas and dozens of rockets were launched into Israel in response, killing one and wounding several others.

 

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said he was "deeply alarmed" by the violence and bloodshed, and called on both sides to restore calm.

 

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown expressed concern with the situation in Gaza and called on Palestinian terrorists to halt rocket attacks on Israel.

 

"I call on Gazan militants to cease all rocket attacks on Israel immediately. These attacks are designed to cause random destruction and to undermine the prospects of peace talks led by Palestinian Authority President [Mahmoud] Abbas."

 

He said that while he understood the Israeli government's sense of obligation to its population," he was "deeply concerned" following the Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip and that Israel must "do everything in its power" to avoid civilian casualties.

 

Both Russia and the European Union called on both sides to cease hostility immediately, while France's President Nicolas Sarkozy went further in his criticism calling Israel's reaction to Hamas's provocations "disproportionate."

 

Quartet Representative Tony Blair said: "The terrible events and tragic loss of life in Gaza require, in the immediate term, the introduction of a genuine calm in which the rocket attacks aimed at killing Israeli civilians and the Israeli attacks on Gaza cease so that the suffering of the people, which is severe, can be lifted."

 

The White House also issued a statement calling to end the violence but put the onus on responsibility on Hamas, saying Israel had the right to defend its border.

 

Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi also urged Israelis and Palestinians to renounce violence and seek a peaceful solution to their conflict, saying Israel's offensive will be a "very serious blow" to Hamas but could also cause many innocent victims and damage peace prospects in the Holy Land.

 

The Arab world reacted in shock to the attacks on the Gaza Strip, with scattered protests around the region and Egypt summoning the Israeli ambassador to express its condemnation of the air strikes.

 

In a statement from the president's office, Egypt condemned Israel's attacks and held it responsible for those killed and wounded and called for renewed efforts to restore the truce with Hamas.

 

"Egypt will forge ahead with its contacts to create a favorable atmosphere for renewing the truce and attaining inter-Palestinian reconciliation in a bid to end the suffering of the Palestinian people," the statement said.

 

But the Egyptian leadership was also highly critical of Hamas, with Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit saying the organization had ignored Israeli warnings that rocket attacks must stop.

 

Egypt also opened its border with the Gaza Strip to receive Palestinian wounded.

 

Egypt's closure of that border has been condemned by many in the Arab world for abetting Israel's siege of the Hamas-dominated Gaza Strip.

 

Arab League head Amr Moussa, meanwhile, called for an emergency meeting of all Arab foreign ministers in Cairo Sunday to address the crisis.

 

Hundreds of protesters in the Jordanian capital of Amman demonstrated in front of the nearby UN headquarters, waving Hamas banners and condemning Israel's strikes.

 

King Abdullah II called for an immediate halt "all military actions" in a statement issued by the royal palace, saying the attacks "targeted innocents among the civilians including women and children."

 

The king warned that "violence will only escalate the crisis and will not bring security to Israel."

 

In Beirut, dozens of youths hit the streets to express solidarity with the Palestinians and set fire to tires. Larger demonstrations were planned later in the day in Shiite suburbs and in south Lebanon's massive Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp.

 

In Syria's al-Yarmouk camp, outside Damascus, dozens of Palestinians also protested the attack as well, vowing to continue fighting Israel.

 

"It's a Zionist holocaust, but it won't dissuade us from going on with our struggle to achieve our goals," said Ali Barakah, 42, one of the protesters.