July 7, 2006

AN ARAB CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE ISRAELI WAR OF ERADICATION IN GAZA. SAUDI ARABIA AT THE UNSC APPEALS TO THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY AND THE QUARTET TO PUT AN IMMEDIATE END TO ISRAEL'S AGGRESSION AGAINST GAZA. THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT WOULD NOT HAVE CONTINUED ITS AGGRESSION, IF NOT FOR THE FAILURE OF THE COUNCIL TO UPHOLD ITS RESPONSIBILITIES, AND ITS FAILURE TO HAVE ITS RESOLUTIONS IMPLEMENTED. ALGERIA CALLS ON THE QUARTET TO SHOULDER ITS RESPONSIBILITIES AND LEBANON CALLS FOR STOPPING THE AGGRESSION AND THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ARAB PEACE INITIATIVE. SYRIA REFUSES THE ALLEGATIONS OF THE US AMBASSADOR TO THE UN. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has called on the International Community, the Security Council and the Quartet to immediately interfere to stop the Israeli aggression against Gaza and withdraw its forces from the strip. The Kingdom called for the release of all detainees in the Palestinian and Israeli sides, the implement of all international resolutions, the establishment of the Palestinian state with Al Quds as its capital according to Madrid principles based on land for peace and the UNSC resolutions 242 and 338. Saudi Arabia called for the implementation of the road map and the Arab peace initiative presented by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz and adopted by the Beirut Arab summit. This came in the speech of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the debates of the Security Council about the events that are taking place in Gaza. The Kingdom's speech was delivered by Youssef Ibn Saleh Al Kahrah member of the Saudi delegation at the UN on behalf of the Permanent Representative Fawzi Ibn Abdul Majid Al Shobokshi. Mr. Youssef Ibn Saleh Al Kahrah said that, once again, Israel was reasserting its aggressive nature. Its aggression against the Palestinians in Gaza was a form of terrorism that was unjustified and that was clear in its aims and objectives. The Palestinian resistance had suffered many victims, including members of a family on the beach in Gaza. Five people in one family had been killed by Israeli artillery from the land and the sea. An international investigation commission had not been dispatched, nor had that act been condemned. Israel continued to isolate the Palestinians, prevented the delivery of their wages, and carried out assassinations. The Palestinians were only exercising legitimate resistance, he stated. Israeli aggression in Gaza was a flagrant violation of international law and agreements reached. The kidnapping of Palestinian ministers and representatives was a terrible crime and a violation of international law. Israeli terrorism in Gaza was not due to the capture of an Israeli soldier, but rather part of Israel's plans to destroy the legitimately elected Palestinian Government. The aim of Israeli aggression was to prevent Palestinians from reaching agreement among themselves, and then to claim there was no partner for peace. The Israeli Government, he said, would not have continued its aggression, if not for the failure of the Council to uphold its responsibilities, and its failure to have its resolutions implemented. The Israeli Government was able to disregard international resolutions, because it believed it could get away with its acts under the pretext of self-defence. He appealed to the international community, the Council and the Quartet to put an immediate end to Israel's aggression against Gaza, and to ensure that it released prisoners and implemented all agreements reached. The Algerian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Mr. Youssef Al Youssefi said that Israel had the habit of using all its military might to target innocent people living in the Palestinian Occupied Territory. He said he feared the recent Israeli act of detaining members of the Palestinian Government and legislature would set a dangerous precedent. Attacks on infrastructure had served to further complicate the life of 1.5 million citizens already suffering under a long history of collective punishment, and would lead to a new cycle of violence. Further, Israel had violated Syrian air space and sovereignty, threatening the security of the entire region. He condemned all those acts. He said Israel's recent aggression was an addition to a long list of aggressions against the Palestinian people that it had been committing for decades. Indeed, it was difficult to count the total number of illegal practices by Israel, since it had been contravening various international law, as well as General Assembly and Security Council resolutions, since 1967. He said he believed the true reason for the recent aggression was to destroy recent diplomatic efforts, and was an example of State terrorism. Hence, he called on the international community to work at all levels to stop upholding double standards, and to compel Israel to withdraw from Gaza. The Council was also called upon to provide international protection to the Palestinian people, in line with the Geneva Convention, as well as to hold Israel fully responsible for the safety of detainees and others being held in Israeli prisons. He also called for the immediate release of the Palestinian Government officials. It was well known, he said, that the continued Israeli occupation of Palestine was the root cause of the problem. Indeed, peace could not be realized without the total withdrawal of Israel forces to 1967 borders. Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Saniora, also present at the meeting, denounced the Israeli attack which he said was a "violation of humanitarian values." "The most important thing happening today is the Israeli aggression on the Palestinians in Gazathis constitutes a mass extermination which we cannot accept," Saniora said. He said he has contacted Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa who will prepare for an Arab foreign ministers' meeting upon his return from the United States. Saniora also said he contacted EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and expressed his intention to sent a message to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The Lebanese Charge d'Affaires at the United Nations Caroline Ziade delivered Lebanon's speech which was reviewed by Prime Minister Fouad Sanior and the Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh. She said there was a need to promptly take several steps. First, the Council should take decisive steps to achieve a ceasefire and restore security in the Occupied Territory, as well as ensure international protection in line with the Fourth Geneva Convention. Second, the Quartet must shoulder its responsibilities and facilitate the establishment of a machinery to channel assistance to the Palestinians. Third, steps were needed to allow the Palestinian Authority to move immediately to restore the security situation and to allow the Palestinians and the Israelis to return to the negotiation table. The actions taken by Israel were flagrant violations of the human rights and safety and security of the Palestinian people, she continued. They were also a challenge to peace. Israel's aggression was not confined to the Palestinian territories. It had used its military forces along the "Blue Line", under the pretext of self-defence. It had also violated the air space of Syria and the air space and territorial waters of Lebanon. It continued to carry out acts of aggression against States that had expressed their wish for lasting peace. Lebanon, while condemning Israeli aggression, joined the call for a ceasefire, a return to calm and negotiations, and the release of all prisoners. Israel's aggression on Gaza has dominated the internal political situation as national dialogue talks and a cabinet session focused on the need for Arab and international intervention to stop the attack. Political leaders meeting at national reconciliation talks remained united in denouncing the Israeli assault and calling for diplomatic action to stop it. "The national dialogue conference denounces the continued Israeli aggression which represents the highest degree of state terrorism," Speaker Nabih Berri said after the meeting. "We ask the international community to take up its responsibility ... and ask the (Lebanese) government to work with Arab states in order to seek an action by the U.N. Security Council against this invasion and declared war," he added. MP Saad Hariri, one of the participants in the conference, described the Israeli action as "madness" and called for national unity to face this escalation by the Jewish state. "We can only face this madness with our unity. The messages that Israel is sending are terrifying and directed at all countries including Lebanon and Syria," he told reporters after the talks. Head of the Future bloc in Parliament MP Saad Hariri condemned Israel's ongoing ‎aggression in the occupied Palestinian territories and warned that the current campaign ‎against the Palestinians could draw the whole region into a cycle of violence. MP Hariri ‎said the Israeli escalation aims at destroying the Palestinian Authority and torpedoing ‎efforts for a peaceful solution that leads to the creation of a Palestinian state.‎ MP Hariri also stressed that Israel plans to wipe out the resistance against its occupation ‎of Palestinian territories and wants to prevent a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Head ‎of the Future made clear that it is no longer enough to condemn Israeli attacks, and urged ‎Arabs to take steps to tackle the dangerous plots underway, including Israel's ‎expansionist policy. He called for implementing Saudi King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz's ‎land for peace plan, which he had proposed during an Arab Summit in Beirut. ‎ Meantime Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh said that Lebanon had intensified its diplomacy to secure international support for the Palestinians. Salloukh expressed readiness to take part in any meeting on any level called for by the Arab league or the Organization of Islamic Conference. In Cairo, the head of the Arab League criticised what he called a slow international response to the Israeli offensive on Palestinian areas. "Arab and regional efforts to stop the Israeli aggression have come to nothing so far because of this international stalling," Secretary-General Amr Moussa told reporters. "This has paralysed the role of the U.N. Security Council," he added. Arab governments have proposed a prisoner exchange and an end to violence, and Moussa said their U.N. representatives would seek to incorporate this in any Security Council resolution. The Palestinians urged the Security Council to press Israel to end its Gaza offensive, launched after an Israeli soldier was kidnapped in a cross-border raid a week ago. But the United States said Syria and Iran must first end their role as "state sponsors of terror" and condemn Hamas militants and Hamas should quickly and unconditionally free the soldier. Moussa said Israel's bombing of the offices of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, of Hamas, was "a continuation of Israel's belligerent approach to the Palestinian people which spares no one". Mohamed Subaih, the Arab League's assistant secretary-general for Palestinian affairs, accused Israel of planning the assault on Gaza well in advance and said it was part of Israel's plan to demarcate its border. Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa and Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Saloukh discussed the latest developments in Palestine. The telephone talks between Moussa and Saloukh followed a league meeting in Cairo at the permanent representatives' level which focussed on the deteriorating situation in the Palestinian territories, a statement by the Lebanese foreign ministry office said. The meeting called for intensive Arab action at the UN security council to bring about an end for Israel's repressive actions in Palestine. Moussa appreciated Lebanon's stance in support of such the Arab move. For his part, Egypt's permanent delegate to the UN has said the current Israeli aggression on the Palestinian territories, from the legal point of view, can only be classified as a new flagrant violation of international law. The situation requires the Security Council to take all measures to secure international protection for the Palestinian people, in accordance with the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, Ambassador Maged Abdel-Fattah said at the council's meeting. He added that Israel, as an occupation authority, should be held responsible for all this. It is important, the ambassador said, that the Security Council lives up to its responsibilities in keeping international peace and security. Abdel-Fattah demanded that the council take prompt action to stop the rapidly deteriorating situation, which threatens to expand the conflict. Israel is already provoking neighbouring Arab states, especially Syria, the Egyptian delegate explained. Egypt sees it important that several immediate measures should be taken to ease down tension, Ambassador Abdel-Fattah said. A first step is that the Israelis and the Palestinians should attempt to calm down conditions to have things return as they were before the Israeli incursion. Second, Israel must immediately withdraw from the lands it reoccupied in Gaza Strip, stop military operations in all Palestinian territories and free all the Palestinian officials it had arrested with a clear promise that it will never attack civilians in the future. Thirdly, the Palestinian Authority (PA) must be committed to exerting all efforts to guarantee immediate release of the kidnapped Israeli soldier. The PA should also work to stop firing rockets on Israel. Fourthly,the Quartet should take immediate measures to build trust between the two sides to pave the way for final-status negotiations, based on the peace process references and the land for peace principle -as outlined in the roadmap plan -along with the Security Council and General Assembly Resolutions. The Egyptian permanent delegate to the UN stressed that the Arab peoples are fed up with the world failure to face the continued Israeli violations. They have had just about enough of the world's double standards regarding this issue, in which the Palestinian citizen is not treated the same way the Israeli is, Abdel-Fattah said. The Palestinian people, he continued, are suffering under the Israeli occupation and the world does not lift a finger. Whereas, the issue of an Israeli soldier turns the world upside down, amidst calls that Israel has the right to self-defence, even if it means dishonouring international commitments, the Ambassador added. An end to occupation will end the conflict, Abdel-Fattah said, noting that the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, was integral. On the other hand Syria refuted the US allegation against Syria its Syrian Charge d'Affaires at the UN Security Council Milad Atieh said that the Council was meeting as the situation in the Middle East was deteriorating from bad to worse, as a result of arrogant Israeli practices that constituted a real threat to international peace and security. Israel, which had never cared for international legitimacy, was trying to drag the entire region into confrontation. The flights of Israeli war planes over Syrian shores were a blatant violation of the sovereignty of a Member State and of international law. In addition, Israeli aggression against the Palestinians was a war crime, for which it should be held accountable. Those acts of aggression were unjustifiable and reflected the internal failures of Israel, which was trying to avoid a just, lasting and comprehensive peace. The events of the last few hours had proved that Israel had never been sincere in its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. The destruction of Palestinian infrastructure was a violation of international humanitarian law and the Fourth Geneva Convention. Israel did not hesitate to make charges against others to cover up the war crimes it was daily perpetuating against an unarmed Palestinian population, he said. He was concerned by the past experience of the Council, due to its repeated failure to fulfil its responsibility regarding the maintenance of international peace and security vis-à-vis the Middle East. Why did the situation in the Middle East continue to deteriorate? The answer was in the continuation of the Israeli occupation and the blocking of the Council assuming its mandate, as well as the lack of seriousness in finding a lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He hoped the Council could assume its responsibility this time, regarding the humanitarian situation of the Palestinians. He said the United States Ambassador had attacked Syria, in an unacceptable manner, with baseless allegations. The Ambassador had made himself the defender of Israel in its aggression towards the Palestinians. That the United States provided cover to Israel, in the Council, in its pursuit of destructive policies, would never serve the cause of peace in the region and would only lead to more tension there. The allegations by Israel against Syria and others for supporting terrorism was a cause for irony. Israel wanted to cover up the war crimes and terrorism that its Government was pursuing daily against the Palestinians. What Israel was doing through its destructive military operations during the past few days was more evidence of State terrorism. Israel must be held accountable for its actions, in connection with international law. GCC Secretary General, Abdul Rahman Al Atiyah called from Riyadh on the UN Security Council to interfere in order to halt Israel's aggressions against the Palestinians and to save lives of civilians. Al Atiyah explained in a statement following last night's UN Security Council's Session aimed at discussing the Israeli atrocious assaults on Gaza Strip and the West Bank, that the arrest of tens of Palestinian legislative Council and cabinet members represented an unprecedented violation of international law. "These ferocious acts represent the law of the jungle, a flagrant violation of Geneva agreement of 1949 and relating laws", Al Atiyah said, adding that it was high time for the states who signed the agreement to meet and assess the Israeli violations and allegations that the assaults came in self defence whereas the Palestinian territories were occupied by Israel according to international law. Al Atiyah also denounced Israel's violation of Syria's air space regarding such acts as "provocative and of great danger to world security and stability", tipping Israel's atrocious attacks against the unarmed Palestinians, children and women as "state terrorism" that hampers the aspired peace in the Middle East. In the Shoura Council condemned the Israeli government's escalation of criminal acts and attacks on the Palestinian government and people in Gaza Strip and West Bank since last Wednesday. In a statement, the Council called on the world community, institutions and organizations to confront these continual attacks which represent a violation of the simplest rights of our Palestinian brothers to life. The Council noted that the act of Israeli government against the Palestinian government and people is a state-terrorism and a dangerous escalation that forms a genocide of innocent civilians. It called on regional and international parliaments and parliamentary unions to stand by the right and confront injustice inflicted upon the unarmed Palestinian people. The Arab Labour Organization also condemned the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza as well as the detention of the Palestinian Ministers and MPs. In a statement the ALO urged peace loving people as well as international, regional and national organization to exert their utmost efforts to stop the repeated Israeli aggressions against the innocent people. Meantime Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas discussed the latest developments in the Palestinian territories in separate two phone calls with President of Egypt, Husni Mubarak and President of Tunisia, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. President Abbas received Sunday phone call from the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. He briefed her on the latest developments in the Palestinian territories in the light of the resumption of the Israeli attacks against the Palestinian people. Abbas and Rice discussed the latest exerted efforts for solving the snowballing human crisis in the Palestinian territories. President Mahmoud Abbas made a phone call with the Secretary General of the League of Arab States, Amr Moussa. The President briefed Mr. Moussa on the latest developments in the Palestinian territories in the light of the Israeli military escalation and the siege on the Palestinian people. The President Abbas sent a letter to Moussa calling him to transfer money, specified for the Palestinian people, to the account of the PNA. The president's call comes as an attempt to face the difficult situation the Palestinian people live. Israeli missiles slammed into the office of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh yesterday in an unmistakable message to get the release of an Israeli soldier as mediation attempts seem to have failed. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the military was ordered to do "everything" within its power to return the captured 19-year-old corporal, and cautioned that arrests of senior Hamas officials could spread to Gaza, the group's power base. Defense Minister Amir Peretz, meanwhile, said Israel would go after "higher-caliber targets" in the future a reference to senior Hamas officials inside and outside of the Palestinian territories, a political ally said. Israeli aircraft, tanks and naval gunboats have been pounding Gaza for the past week in an effort to win the freedom of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, seized in a cross-border raid. Thousands of troops were also sent into the coastal strip for Israel's first ground invasion since quitting Gaza nine months ago. The armed wing of Hamas threatened to retaliate by resuming attacks inside Israel, predicting the region would sink in a "sea of blood" if the Israeli offensive continued. "The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades warn the Zionist enemy: If its operations continue, we will hit the occupation targets we were previously reluctant to strike," said a statement in Gaza City. In other attacks, Israeli aircraft hit a school in Gaza City and Hamas facilities in northern Gaza, where a Hamas fighter was killed and another wounded, Palestinian officials said. Shaaban Manoun, 34, was the second fighter killed in the five-day Israeli operation. Israeli artillery also fired at open spaces near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, the military said. So far, the ground invasion has been focused on southern Gaza, where Israel believes Shalit was taken. Yesterday, officials decided to invade northern Gaza if rocket fire on southern Israel resumes from that area, security officials said. Palestinians said two missiles fired by attack helicopters set Haniyeh's office ablaze, but because of the early hour 1.45 a.m. it was empty, witnesses said. One bystander was slightly injured, hospital officials said. Haniyeh, inspecting the burning office building shortly after, called the Israeli attack senseless. "They have targeted a symbol for the Palestinian people," he said. Later, before meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Haniyeh vowed, "This will not break the will of the Palestinian people." After the meeting, the two men surveyed Haniyeh's damaged office together, waving through a hole in the wall. "The world must understand that this is a dirty, criminal act," Abbas said. Roni Bar-On, an Israeli Cabinet minister, said the objective of the attack on Haniyeh's office was to "compromise the Hamas government's ability to rule." The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), meanwhile, expressed concern about the humanitarian consequences of the escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip in recent days. It appealed for the rules and principles of international humanitarian law to be fully respected. The ICRC urged all parties to spare civilians not taking direct part in hostilities and reminded them that attacks must not be directed against civilian objects. In particular, it recalled the obligation to exercise precaution.