Jordan Times
Friday, July 13, 2006
Jordan, Japan urge end
to military escalation
Bush says Jewish state ‘has a right to defend herself’; EU, Russia condemn
‘disproportionate’ use of force
Agencies
JORDAN AND JAPAN on Thursday called for ending military escalation in the Gaza
Strip and Lebanon as other leaders urged restraint to stop the fiercest clashes
in a decade slipping into all-out war.
King Abdullah and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said at a meeting in
Aqaba that the crisis should be solved through diplomatic means.
Israel blockaded Lebanese ports on Thursday, intensifying reprisals that have
killed 55 civilians in Lebanon since Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiers a
day earlier.
Koizumi arrived in Jordan earlier on Thursday for the final leg of a Middle East
trip that also took him to Israel and the Palestinian territories, where he
announced a package of nearly $30 million in fresh humanitarian aid. He heads to
Russia for the Group of Eight summit.
As Arab foreign ministers prepared for an emergency meeting on the crisis on
Saturday, King Abdullah was to visit Egypt today for talks with President Hosni
Mubarak on the crisis.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Musa blamed Israel for the escalation and
warned of “chaos” sweeping the region. “Israel is behind all that is happening,”
Musa told reporters.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit, who rushed to Damascus on Wednesday
to deliver a message to Syrian President Bashar Assad, also warned that the
situation risked spiralling out of control.
“The rhetorical escalation by all parties threatens to provoke an explosion of
the situation and to herald a dangerous phase for the region,” he told
reporters.
Earlier, the King received Lebanese MP Saad Hariri and called for an end to
Israeli attacks on Lebanon, stressing Jordan’s “rejection of such aggressive
acts against civilians and infrastructure”.
Hariri, who arrived in Aqaba from Alexandria, was quoted as saying that he
visited Jordan “to ask His Majesty the King to use his good contacts with world
leaders to help end Israel’s offensive against the Lebanese people”.
In Amman, the government said after an emergency session that Jordan was
intensifying its efforts to stop the escalation, urging an immediate
intervention by the international community.
The government also condemned targeting civilians and infrastructure as well as
“any act harming the Palestinian people and its cause or Lebanon and its
sovereignty”.
At a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, US President
George W. Bush blamed “terrorists who want to stop the advance of peace”, in
reference to Lebanese movement Hizbollah and Palestinian movement Hamas.
But he urged Israel not to react in a way that undermined Lebanon’s fragile
democracy.
Fellow United Nations Security Council members Russia and France condemned
Israel’s “disproportionate” use of force, as did the European Union, Italy and
Switzerland in separate statements.
Britain called for “restraint on all sides” and a return to peace talks.
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan said he was “profoundly worried” by
the escalation of violence and condemned “all attacks against civilians”.
Annan is sending a high-level team to the Middle East to help defuse the crisis
and the UN Security Council was to meet on Friday to discuss it.
Lebanon and Russia urged the UN to demand a ceasefire, while Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas warned of the risk of a “regional war”.
Washington — a member of the diplomatic Quartet on the Middle East peace —
backed its main regional ally, while calling for peace.
“Israel has a right to defend herself,” Bush said from Germany.
“Hizbollah doesn’t want there to be peace. The armed wing of Hamas doesn’t want
there to be peace and those of us who do want peace will continue to work
together to encourage peace.” Bush urged Syria to put pressure on Hizbollah to
release the Israeli soldiers, saying: “Syria needs to be held to account.”
Conservative Merkel called for a “de-escalation”. But she insisted: “The attacks
did not start from the Israeli side but from Hizbollah’s side.” Two other
Quartet members, the 25-nation EU and Russia, voiced alarm at the spiral in
violence and criticised Israel’s reaction.
“All sides involved in the current events should take rapid measures to stop the
region sliding into open conflict,” the Russian foreign ministry said.
Moscow condemned the abduction of Israeli soldiers, saying: “All forms of
terrorism are completely unacceptable.” But it also criticised Israel, saying:
“One cannot justify the continued destruction by Israel of the civilian
infrastructure in Lebanon and in Palestinian territory, involving the
disproportionate use of force in which the civilian population suffers.”
Speaking after talks in London with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana,
British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said they were both “gravely
concerned about the escalation of the present crisis which now poses a serious
threat for both Israel and Lebanon and indeed the wider security of the region”.
“We urge all parties to do all they can to address this crisis and to prevent
the situation from worsening,” she said.
Fellow G-8 members France and Italy were more outspoken.
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy described the Israeli strikes on
Lebanon as a “disproportionate act of war”.
Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema said Rome had “the impression that this
is a disproportionate and dangerous reaction in view of the consequences it
could have”.
Sweden, Denmark and Norway, the broker of the defunct Oslo peace accords for the
Middle East, condemned both sides but suggested Israel’s actions were excessive.
A similar message from Switzerland whose foreign ministry said that “Israel’s
response must remain strictly in proportion and not threaten a non-hostile
neighbouring state”.
In the Muslim world, Malaysia — current chair of the 57-nation Organisation of
the Islamic Conference (OIC) — condemned Israel and urged the international
community to take action.
Morocco called for an immediate halt to Israeli operations in Lebanon.
“At this delicate moment the government of the Kingdom of Morocco appeals
urgently to the international community... for an immediate halt to military
operations which are... pushing the region towards a new spiral of violence and
instability,” the government said.
In Tunis, an Arab anti-terrorism conference appealed for an immediate halt to
the Israeli attacks and condemned what it called Israel’s “state terrorism”.
Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) voiced alarm
about the plight of civilians caught up in the conflict and urged all sides to
respect international law.
“The ICRC reminds the parties to the conflict that it is illegal to attack
civilians who are not taking a direct part in hostilities and that it is illegal
to attack civilian property,” it said.
“It further reminds the parties of their obligation to exercise precaution and
to respect the principle of proportionality in all military operations.”