UK parliamentary-led group urged to demand end to Israeli attacks on Palestinians
Palestine-Israel-UK, Politics, 3/5/2008

The British government was urged by an all- party parliamentary-led group Monday to intervene against the continuing Israeli attacks on Gaza following the killing of over 100 Palestinians in the last few days.

The Committee for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding (CAABU) said it was calling on the UK Government to "call for an immediate ceasefire and adherence to international." British ministers, it said, should "also openly condemn the collective punishment of Gaza and disproportionate killing of civilians." The call comes after Foreign Secretary David Miliband chose to condemn rocket attacks against Israel as "terrorist acts" while insisting the Zionist regime had a "right to security and self- defense" that must be reiterated and supported.

As a caution, Miliband simply said that "measures taken in response to rockets must be in accordance with international law, minimizing the suffering for innocent civilians, and maximizing the scope for political negotiations to be restarted." But CAABU pointed out the disproportionality of Israel's killings, saying that well over 200 Palestinians had been killed in Gaza already so far this year in contrast to a total of around 15 Israeli civilians killed by Qassam rockets since 2002.

"Israel's recent attacks included air strikes on some of the most densely populated areas in the world and were bound to result in high civilian casualties," it said.

"Such disproportionate attacks go beyond the legal measures which the Israeli military may take against the armed groups responsible for firing the Qassam rockets," it said. Israel, it added, was obliged under international law to protect the civilian population of Gaza.

CAABU suggested that from recent Israeli statements that the mass killings were deliberate, quoting Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter saying the rocket fire must be "stopped completely irrespective of the cost to the Palestinians." Israel's Deputy Defense Minister, Matan Vilnai also said last week that the Palestinians will "bring upon themselves a bigger shoah (holocaust) because we will use all our might to defend ourselves." The latest massacres come at a time when Gaza's 1.5 million inhabitants are already suffering from one of its gravest humanitarian crises as a result of the increasingly inhumane blockade imposed by Israel, including cutting off fuel supplies.

Previous Stories:
  UK police allowed alleged Israeli war criminal escape arrest   (2/19/2008)
  Gaza electricity cut 'alarming,' says UK   (1/22/2008)
  British PM wants Mideast Peace process move forward   (10/23/2007)

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