UN fails to end Israeli attacks, Arab and international reactions
Palestine-Israel-UN, Politics, 1/6/2009

Ban Ki-moon has said that the United Nations plays a key role in halting the violence in Gaza, expressing regret that the Security Council failed to reach an agreement yesterday evening on how to end the conflict.

Despite the 15-member body's lack of concurrence during its emergency session which took place hours after Israel launched a ground offensive into Gaza, Ban – who was scheduled to meet with Arab leaders today at UN Headquarters – said that he is pressing ahead with diplomatic efforts, the UN News Center said.

"Given the crucial juncture at which we have arrived in the search for a ceasefire, I appeal to all members of the international community to display the unity and commitment required to bring this escalating crisis to an end," he said in a statement issued, Monday, by his spokesperson.

The Security Council also convened on the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza this evening, with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warning that today's deadly Israeli shelling of United Nations schools where hundreds of Gazans had sought refuge made a ceasefire more urgent than ever.

"Three UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East) schools, set up by the United Nations as places of refuge for civilians fleeing the fighting, have been hit in adjacent Israeli strikes," Ban told the Council at the start of the session, noting that the third strike at a school in Jabalia refugee camp killed dozens of civilians.

"These attacks by Israeli military forces which endanger UN facilities acting as places of refuge are totally unacceptable, and should not be repeated. Equally unacceptable are any actions by Hamas militants which endanger the Palestinian civilian population. Today's events underscore the dangers inherent in the continuation and escalation of this conflict. I call once again for an immediate ceasefire."

He said had stressed to United States President George W. Bush in a meeting earlier today the importance of acting immediately, as he had in meetings with Arab leaders, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, noting that he had repeatedly condemned indiscriminate rocket attacks by Hamas into Israel and the excessive use of force by Israel with the stated aim of bringing an end to such attacks and a change in the security conditions in Southern Israel.

The Secretary-General added that he intended to travel to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory next week as well as to regional capitals. "But I do not believe we can wait until then to end the violence. We must achieve that now," he declared.

Following Ban, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas appealed to the 15-member Council to stop the "new catastrophe" at the hands of "the Israeli machine of destruction" now befalling the Palestinian people. "The massacre in the UNRWA school at the Jabaliya camp is new proof of the heinous crime committed against our people," he said, calling for a full cessation of "Israeli aggression" so that political dialogue could resume.

"Any procrastination can only deepen the tragedy," he added, stressing that an international force was needed to end the "unjust siege" of Gaza by opening all crossings, calling for a mutual and complete ceasefire, and voicing support for the plan proposed by Presidents Mubarak and Sarkozy.

"Put an end to this genocide and destruction," he concluded. "Do not allow for the killing of one more Palestinian child. Do not let one more Palestinian mother cry for her children. Do not allow it. Put an end to the massacre of my people, let my people live and let my people be free."

Ban said that he has recalled Robert Serry, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, to New York to brief him on the situation on the ground as well as political efforts to bring an end to the clashes.

"Meanwhile I remain extremely concerned about the deteriorating humanitarian situation on the ground," he said. "We are in close contact with the Israeli authorities to press them to open not only the Kerem Shalom crossing, but also Karni and Nahd Oz, to allow in, particularly, wheat grain and fuel for the power plant, as well as other essential supplies."

Israel has cited rocket and other attacks by militants in Gaza against Israeli civilians as the reason for its military offensive and closing crossings into Gaza for much of the previous two months.

Following last evening's closed Council meeting, Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert of France, which holds the Council Presidency this month, said that while there was "no formal agreement" among the 15 members, he witnessed "strong convergences" to express concern over the stepped up violence and the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

"There was also strong convergence to express full support to the regional and international diplomatic efforts which are underway to resolve the crisis and to call all parties to resume peace talks," he told reporters.

About 600 Palestinians are estimated to have been killed and over 2500 wounded since the start of the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is working on three elements of a plan that could lead to a "sustainable, durable cease-fire" between the Israelis and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, a State Department spokesman says. The three elements include an end to rocket attacks from Gaza into Israeli communities; the opening of Israeli border crossings by Israel into and out of Gaza; and the issue of tunnels used to smuggle arms and munitions into Gaza, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said yesterday.

"We are looking for and working towards a sustainable, durable, non-time-limited cease-fire in which the Palestinian people can live better lives and the Israeli people can also live better lives, and not fear rocket attacks... being launched from the Gaza," McCormack said.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has received the Secretary of the Iranian National Security Higher Council, Saeed Jalili in Damascus on Saturday and held talks on various regional and international levels with the critical Gaza situation topping their agenda, SUNA reported.

Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia reiterated Algeria's "unfailing" solidarity with the Palestinians, voicing "vigorous condemnation" of Israel's atrocities in Gaza. "I insist to express, on the government's behalf, our vigorous condemnation of the crimes against humanity that Israel is committing for over a week against the Gaza population and reiterate Algeria's unfailing solidarity with the Palestinian brothers in their struggle for recovering all their legitimate rights," Ouyahia pointed out in a statement.

Sudan's Speaker of the National Congress, Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Tahir, has stressed the importance of work at all international levels for the trial of Israeli leaders who are committing barbaric crimes in Gaza.
Al-Tahir made the above statement in his address to the 14th Extraordinary Conference of the Arab Parliamentary Union in Lebanon on Friday.

Affirming the importance of unity and solidarity of Arab stances and the response to the Arab peoples' demands for severing ties with the Zionist entity, Al-Tahir also called for urgent opening of borders with Gaza, support to the Palestinian resistance and the unity of the Palestinian rank, SUNA reported.

The Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, Nabih Barri, said that the Israeli war on Gaza was premeditated and intended to exterminate the Palestinians, adding that this war also targets Lebanon, Syria and the regional dialog.

The speakers at the conference assured that Israel's war on Gaza is aimed to eradicate the Palestinian resistance and steadfastness and to force the Palestinians to succumb to Zionist plots.

Head of the Future Bloc in the Lebanese Parliament MP Saad Hariri had previously strongly condemned Israel's "massacre" in the Gaza Strip, saying it is part of a series of massacres in the "terrorist and bloody history" of Israel committed against the Palestinians and Arabs.

Meantime, an Indonesian delegation was scheduled to send medical aid to the Palestinians and were to proceed to Egypt to make preparations for the opening of a temporary field hospital in Rafah, a border area close to the Gaza Strip.

While the top United Nations refugee official has stressed that civilians wishing to leave Gaza, where a military operation Israel says it launched in response to Hamas rocket attacks has entered its 11th day, must be allowed to do so, and reminded neighboring States of their responsibility to provide access to safety for those fleeing the ongoing violence.

"Those who are compelled to flee the Gaza Strip should be able to do so and to find safety and security in other countries according to international law," UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres said in a statement issued yesterday.

There has been no large-scale movement out of Gaza because of the Israeli blockade. However, Guterres urged that "all borders and access routes concerned should be kept open and safe, and Palestinians endeavoring to leave Gaza should not be prevented from doing so."

Permanent Observer of the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the United Nations Ambassador Riyad Mansour, said in a letter addressed to the UN that Israel's excessive, disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force has brutally killed more than 500 Palestinians, including 107 children and 37 women in less than ten days.

In his letter addressed to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, President of the Security Council Jean-Maurice Ripert and President of the General Assembly Father Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, Ambassador Mansour said that "the tragic and continuous climb in the number of casualties reflects Israel's ongoing bloody onslaught against the Palestinian population in the Occupied Gaza Strip, in complete disregard and violation of all norms and rules of international humanitarian law and human rights law."

He added that medical sources in Gaza reported that Israeli helicopters deliberately targeted and killed three paramedics as they rushed to rescue a group of Palestinians in Tal Al-Hawa neighborhood in Gaza City. He pointed that many of the injured, now over 2500, have not been able to obtain the urgent medical treatment they need. Medical teams have been unable to access areas to rescue the injured and Gaza hospitals, already dealing with critical shortages of supplies due to 18 month siege on Gaza, have not had the supplies, equipment or capacity to handle the massive number of civilians requiring urgent medical care.

Ambassador Mansour called on the Security Council to fulfill its duties in accordance with the UN Charter and take concrete measures to end Israeli aggression saying that the international community "cannot allow the occupying Power to continue to act with such flagrant impunity and disrespect for the law, which has resulted in the tragic death and suffering among the defenseless Palestinian civilian population."

Previous Stories:
  Bush: Middle East peace process made progress   (12/24/2008)
  B'Tselem: 58% of Ofra's land is Palestinian   (12/24/2008)
  Tel Aviv mayor denounces violation of Al-Bahr mosque   (12/24/2008)
  Easing Israeli closures and boosting Palestinian security vital, UN   (9/30/2008)
  Human rights in Palestinian territories remain grave   (6/16/2008)
  Fuel shortages hamper basic life in Gaza   (3/5/2008)

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