Jordan Times
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Jordan demands immediate halt to Israeli aggression
JT and agencies
HIS MAJESTY KING Abdullah on Saturday condemned the Israeli aggression and massacres committed against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.
In a telephone call with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, King Abdullah described Israeli military escalations as “dangerous and a violation to all international covenants”.
The King said that he will work, in coordination with international players, for an end to Israeli attacks against the Palestinians.
During the phone conversation, King Abdullah reiterated that Israel’s policy of siege and aggression would not ensure Israel security and stability, but would rather have a catastrophic impact on the region.
Abbas briefed King Abdullah on the latest developments in Gaza and described the Israeli aggression in Gaza as “state terrorism”.
Also yesterday, Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications Nasser Judeh said Jordan is following, with deep concern, the tragic developments in Gaza and the frequent and constant Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people, which killed dozens of innocent civilians, including children and women, and injured hundreds.
“The Kingdom strongly condemns Israel’s continued aggression and demands an immediate halt of its attacks, which violate international law,” Judeh, who is also acting foreign minister, said in a statement.
“Firm and decisive international intervention is needed to pressure Israel, protect civilians and prevent more deterioration of the Palestinian humanitarian situation.”
“A just peace, and not violence, would guarantee security for Israel,” said Judeh.
Israel killed 54 Palestinians on Saturday in its deadliest and deepest incursion into the Gaza Strip since pulling out in 2005, stoking fears of a broader conflict that could derail renewed US-backed peace talks.
Two Israeli soldiers were also killed and seven wounded, the army said - its first casualties in four days of fighting.
At least 89 Palestinians have been killed since Wednesday in intense Israeli air strikes and ground raids in the tiny Hamas-controlled territory, home to 1.5 million people, bordering Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean.
Israel said it was responding to cross-border rockets, which killed an Israeli man in the border town of Sderot on Wednesday and wounded others in the southern city of Ashkelon.
More than 48 rockets and mortars landed in southern Israel on Saturday, including several Soviet-designed Grad missiles, which are more powerful and accurate than improvised Qassams produced locally, the army said.
Palestinian officials said the one-day death toll in Gaza was the highest since 2002.
Of the 54 Palestinians killed, at least 26 were civilians and the rest were fighters, according to hospital staff and Hamas, which seized Gaza last June after routing the more secular Fateh forces.
“Uncle, I do not want to die, I want my dad,” a toddler screamed as doctors tried to treat burn wounds across her body in Gaza’s main Shifa Hospital. The girl was injured in a house which the Israeli army said was used to store and make weapons.
One of the dead civilians was a mother who was preparing breakfast for her children when she was hit by gunfire, relatives and medical workers said.
One missile slammed into a crowd of Palestinians, killing four civilians, medical staff and Hamas said. The army said it fired on armed men.
Palestinian officials said Israeli forces advanced towards the towns of Beit Hanoun and Jabaliya, the largest and furthest incursion into Gaza since 2005, when Israel pulled out its settlers and troops from the territory after 38 years.
The United States on Friday urged Israel to “consider the consequences” of any action ahead of next week’s scheduled visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Russia and the United Nations appealed for calm.
More bloodshed could derail Washington’s hopes of a deal on Palestinian statehood before President George W. Bush leaves office next January.
Speaking in Damascus, exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mishaal told Israel what he believed it would face if it mounted an invasion: “I say to the Zionist leaders, if they decided to raid Gaza, they will not be fought by dozens of fighters but they will be fought by 1.5 million people.”
Abbas called the Israeli actions “unbelievable” and said what is happening “is more than a holocaust”, a reference to a senior Israeli defence official who warned on Friday of a “shoah” in Gaza.
Witnesses said fighting erupted after Israeli soldiers, backed by helicopter gunships, entered northern Gaza overnight and were confronted by Palestinian gunmen.
A Palestinian said he saw at least one Israeli soldier, whose body had been sliced in half, being pulled from a tank.
Three Israelis were slightly injured by rockets that reached deep into Ashkelon, a city of some 120,000 people.
Israeli leaders said they may have no choice but to launch a broader offensive in the Gaza Strip if Palestinian fighters do not stop rocket attacks on the Jewish state.
“As long as events escalate, the chances that we will use greater force increases,” Deputy Israeli Defence Minister Matan Vilnai told Israel Radio.
In a defiant message to Israel, Hamas’ armed wing said: “You will never stop the rockets.” The high death toll could increase pressure on Abbas to suspend peace talks with Israel. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said a major offensive would “bury” peace efforts.
Though rocket fire has long disrupted life in southern Israeli towns, the killing of the Israeli on Wednesday - the first death of its kind since May - has put pressure on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to increase military action.
Hamas has said the rocket attacks were a response to Israeli raids into Gaza and the West Bank.
Russia called on the Israelis and Palestinians to end the latest wave of violence to give a chance to peace talks.