http://wafa.ps/english/body.asp?id=7387
DATE: 12/11/2006 TIME :13:56
Israeli Peace Coalition Calls for Resignation of Israeli Defense Minister & his Chief of Staff

JREUSALEM, November 12, 2006, (WAFA)- Israeli Coalition of Peace Movements called for the resignation of Israeli Defense Minister, Amir Peretz and Chief of Staff Dan Halutz.

In a statement issued Sunday, the Coalition said that tens of protesters from the peace Coalition organized a demonstration before the Ministers' Council in Jerusalem calling for lifting the siege on the Gaza Strip.

They called on the Israeli officials to resign after the last week massacre in Beit Hanoun in which 20 citizens, most of them children, were murdered in an Israeli missile attack.

Members of the Peace Coalition chanted slogans calling for leaving the Gaza children to live in peace and called the Israeli Government to launch "serious negotiations" with the Palestinian Leadership.

S.A.S. (14:00 P) (12:00 GMT)

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/30578E13-E8C2-4CDF-8E74-1B8B339337CC.htm
Rights group demands Gaza inquiry

Friday 10 November 2006, 22:25 Makka Time, 19:25 GMT

Beit Hanoun was shelled heavily in the attack

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged Israel to conduct an independent inquiry into its recent shelling of Gaza, calling an internal army investigation "insufficient".

An initial military inquiry into the death of 18 Palestinians, mostly women and children, on Wednesday attributed the shelling to a "technical failure of the artillery radar system".

But HRW said that the army's investigation "failed to address the key questions of whether the attack was a violation of international law and who should be held accountable for the lethal fire".

"The Israeli government should immediately conduct a comprehensive independent investigation to establish these issues," HRW said.

Sarah Leah Whitson, the director of the Middle East and North Africa Division of HRW, said: "The IDF's (Israeli army's) internal probe suggests that the Beit Hanoun tragedy can be chalked up to an errant volley of shells.

"But a comprehensive investigation should start with questioning whether Israel had any business firing artillery shells into this civilian area to begin with."

Widespread shelling

HRW said the inquiry should examine the Israeli policy which led to the firing of "some 15,000 artillery shells" into Gaza since September 2005, killing more than 49 Palestinians and seriously wounding dozens more.

Whitson said: "Israeli forces launched the artillery attack on Beit Hanoun at a time when their commanders knew, or should have known, that the risk of civilian deaths far outweighed any definite military advantage."

Amir Peretz, Israel's defence minister, ordered stricter artillery firing rules for the Gaza Strip on Thursday.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D5D2D4D5-E2D8-4BC5-81FA-EDF85EE4BBBE.htm
US vetoes Beit Hanoun resolution

Sunday 12 November 2006, 11:37 Makka Time, 8:37 GMT

The Israeli shelling killed women and children as they slept

The US has vetoed a draft UN Security Council resolution condemning an Israeli attack in the Gaza Strip that killed 19 Palestinian civilians.

John Bolton, the US ambassador to the UN, described the text as "unbalanced" and "biased against Israel and politically motivated".

He added that it did not provide an "even-handed characterisation" of the Israeli shelling.

Seven children and four women were among those who died in Beit Hanoun when Israeli tanks fired on their home as they were sleeping on Wednesday morning.

Ghazi Hamad, the Palestinian cabinet spokesman, said the veto was "a signal that the US had given legitimacy to the massacres and a green light to Israel to ... carry out more massacres.

"This is a shame on the American administration, which says it is trying to promote human rights and democracy in the Middle East."

Nabil Abu Rdaineh, spokesman for Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, said: "The US veto encourages Israel to continue with its aggression against the Palestinian people."

Veto power

The text of the resolution, which was sponsored by Arab states, had also condemned the firing of rockets by Palestinian fighters into Israel.

Ten of the council's 15 members voted in favour and four -Britain, Denmark, Japan and Slovakia - abstained.

As one of the council's five permanent members along with Britain, China, France and Russia, the US has veto power which it has now used 82 times, often to shield Israel from censure.

America's previous use of the veto was in July to block a Qatari-sponsored draft resolution that would have condemned Israel's military onslaught in Gaza as "disproportionate force" and would have demanded a halt to Israeli operations in the territory.

Diplomats said Arab countries would now probably take their case to the 192-member UN General Assembly, where their draft would get a more sympathetic hearing.

Military operations

Avi Pazner, an Israeli government spokesman, said: "The American veto is very satisfactory.

"The draft resolution did not stipulate that what happened at Beit Hanoun was a tragic error."

Abu Mujahid, a spokesman for The Popular Resistance Committees, a Hamas-linked group, said: "The Zionist aggression on Beit Hanoun was supported by American officers who were supervising the killing of our children, women and elderly.

"Therefore America and the Zionist entity are two faces of the same cause and they are going to be treated the same way, as the occupiers of our land. And they have to be held responsible for the consequences of this."

Worldwide condemnation

Israel has expressed regret for the loss of life in Beit Hanoun, but has said it will continue its military operations in Gaza.

The army said it was attacking areas where rockets had been fired in recent days at Israeli cities.

It said an investigation indicated that the casualties were caused by a "technical failure" in the fire control system of an artillery battery.

Wednesday's Israeli strike in Gaza received worldwide condemnation and led to calls for an immediate halt by Israel of its Gaza offensive, which has left more than 300 Palestinians dead since late June when an Israeli soldier was seized by Palestinian fighters.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/9DB7DCAA-C83A-42CF-A2A8-D77602AD2051.htm
Israel accused of 'state terrorism'

Sunday 12 November 2006, 11:51 Makka Time, 8:51 GMT

The Arab League has called for an immediate ceasefire (File)

A Palestinian official has accused Israel of state terrorism after an attack in Gaza that killed 18 civilians, and said Israeli apologies for such incidents were insincere and no longer acceptable.

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian UN observer, told an emergency UN Security Council meeting on Thursday: "This is terrorism, this is state terrorism.

"These are war crimes for which the perpetrators must be held accountable under international law."

But an Israeli diplomat said that Wednesday's shelling in Beit Hanoun had been accidental.

Israel was "deeply saddened" by it and doing its utmost to avoid a repetition, Israeli envoy Daniel Carmon said.

The council met at the request of the 22-member Arab League, the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference and the 116-nation Non-Aligned Movement after what Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, referred to as "a technical failure" but which Palestinian leaders have called a massacre.

The 18 dead, including seven children and four women, were buried at a mass funeral in Gaza on Thursday.

Since the end of June, more than 450 Palestinians had been killed in the Gaza Strip, "making death, mourning and grief a near-daily ritual for the people of Gaza", Mansour said.

Immediate ceasefire

A draft Security Council resolution put forward by Arab states would call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and a UN observer force to enforce the ceasefire, as was done in southern Lebanon after the 34-day war between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah that ended in August.

But the US, Israel's closest ally and one of five permanent council members with veto power, typically opposes council intervention in the Middle East conflict as ineffective in ending the Arab-Israeli cycle of violence.


Bolton: Hamas should take steps
to stop attacks

John Bolton, the US ambassador, said: "Despite all of the emotion in the air, we must have an honest and even-handed discussion of recent events in Gaza".

He urged Israel to quickly look into the artillery attack and take steps to avoid a repetition while stressing the responsibility of the Hamas government, which refuses to recognise Israel and reject violence, "to prevent terror and take the necessary steps to stop attacks from within Gaza".

"Progress requires a commitment to peace from both sides of the conflict," Bolton said.

Angela Kane, the UN assistant secretary-general for political affairs, also pressed Israel to do more to avoid civilian casualties and the Palestinians to try harder to prevent rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza.

"We hope that both Palestinians and Israelis will pause and reflect on the fact that the conflict between them will not be resolved by force and that ways must be found to bring about negotiations," she said.

Condemnation

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain denounced the killings on Thursday as a number of Islamic foreign ministers prepared to meet to discuss Israel's offensive.

A Saudi government spokesman denounced what he called the "carnage".

"An urgent international conference needs to be convened, with the participation of all the parties [concerned with the Middle East problem] to put an end to these massacres and protect the Palestinian people," he said.

"These are war crimes for which the perpetrators must be held accountable under international law"

Riyad Mansour,
Palestinian UN Observer


Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the amir of Qatar, telephoned Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, to "denounce Israeli aggression in Beit Hanoun and the human losses they have caused", the official QNA news agency said.

And in Manama, Khaled bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, the Bahraini foreign minister, said the attacks by Israel constituted a "disappointing reversal that is leading the region towards a dangerous precipice with grave consequences".

Ministers from Azerbaijan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal and Yemen will meet Palestinian representatives on November 18, the 57-member OIC said on Thursday.

Abbas requested the meeting in a telephone conversation with Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, OIC secretary-general, the bloc added.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/1A32EA5C-7462-4EA0-B642-9363F23A9E79.htm
US veto of Gaza resolution criticised
Sunday 12 November 2006, 14:32 Makka Time, 11:32 GMT

Amr Musa is to chair Sunday's meeting

Feedback

The Arab League has criticised the United States for blocking a UN Security Council resolution that sought to condemn Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip.

The US used its veto to halt the draft resolution, sponsored by the Gulf state of Qatar, that criticised the Israeli tank shelling of a home in Beit Hanoun on Wednesday in which seven children and four women were killed as they slept.

Amr Musa, the Arab League secretary general, said he was "surprised and disappointed" by the US move and said: "This veto will only increase anger.

"It is inexplicable that a veto can be used to protect Israeli actions against civilians."

He said the Arab world would not accept peace with Israel unless it was "just and balanced".

Negotiations

John Bolton, the US ambassador to the UN, earlier described the text of the resolution as "unbalanced" and "biased against Israel and politically motivated".

"It is inexplicable that a veto can be used to protect Israeli actions against civilians"

Amr Musa,
Arab League secretary general

Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the Egyptian foreign minister, said America's action would "only lead to impose the situation that Israel wants, and increase the frustration of Palestinian people".

A statement issued by Aboul Gheit's office said: "It is necessary for the Security Council to bear its responsibilities and stop turning a blind eye to Israeli acts in Gaza."

Egypt and other Arab powers fear that the latest bloodshed in Gaza could imperil an imminent deal for Hamas to reconcile with the more moderate Fatah movement and form a Palestinian unity government.

'Massacres'

Ghazi Hamad, a spokesman for the Hamas-led Palestinian government, said the US veto showed America's foreign policy bias in the Middle East.

Israel says the casualties were
caused by a 'technical error'

He told Al Jazeera: "Such a decision was expected, because the US have already given the green light for Israel to carry on these massacres."

Arab foreign ministers are holding an emergency meeting on Sunday in Cairo, the Egyptian capital, to discuss plans to "confront on-going Israeli violence" against the Palestinian people", Arab League officials said.

The Arab League will also urge the UN Security Council to pass a resolution to form an international observation force to protect Palestinians, they said.

Israel has expressed regret for the loss of life in Beit Hanoun, but has said it will continue its military operations in Gaza.

It said an investigation indicated that the casualties in Beit Hanoun were caused by a "technical failure" in the fire control system of an artillery battery.