US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has held talks with Egyptian officials, the first stage of a trip aimed at saving Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.Yet still the circle of violence and the helplessness of those caught in its vortex continues:
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas broke off contacts with Israel in protest at its recent offensive in Gaza, which has left more than 110 Palestinians dead.
Ms Rice said the US was concerned about the toll of innocent life, but blamed Hamas for triggering the bloodshed.
She said talks must not be sabotaged by those rejecting a peace deal.
Ms Rice headed on to Israel and the West Bank for further negotiations with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
Israeli tanks and infantry moved out of Gaza before dawn today after a five day operation to kill militants that left more than 110 Palestinians dead, including 22 children.
Hopes that the incursion had ended the barrage of Palestinian rockets raining down from Gaza on Israeli border towns proved in vain, however, when three missiles hit the resort town of Ashkelon this morning, damaging an apartment building. No-one was hurt.
Israel said that its withdrawal did not mean it was scaling back its operation against the Islamists, but merely suspending it temporarily for a two day visit by Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State.
“This very limited (Gaza) operation was intended to show Hamas what could happen, what you may call a ’prequel’,” said an Israeli official.
So then:
The killing of eight people at a Jewish religious college by a Palestinian gunman will not derail peace talks, the Israeli government has said.And in Gaza:The gunman was shot dead after opening fire with an assault rifle inside a crowded library at the Mercaz Harav seminary in West Jerusalem.
Israeli police said the attacker was a Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem.
Some Israelis have called for peace talks with the Palestinians to end but Israel has said they will continue.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemned his Hamas rivals - who are in control of Gaza - for hailing the attack.
Hamas described the shooting as a "natural reaction" to Israeli military actions in the Gaza Strip last week that left more than 120 Palestinians dead.
Gaza's humanitarian situation is at its worst since Israel occupied the territory in 1967, say UK-based human rights and development groups.And into this confusion and endless retaliations we send ....
They include Amnesty International, Save the Children, Cafod, Care International and Christian Aid.
They criticise Israel's blockade on Gaza as illegal collective punishment which fails to deliver security.
Israel says its military action and other measures are lawful and needed to stop rocket attacks from Gaza.
Israel pulled its troops and settlers out of the Gaza Strip in 2005, but retains control over Gaza's airspace and coastline, and over its own border with the territory.
1 comment:
But peace in the Middle East was going to be Georgie's Major Cool Legacy! They already have the photo op in mind... where Georgie strides onto a really big stage with a huge American flag behind him. He's in a military uniform cuz it's cool and he gives this really exciting speech. People are all totally jazzed and we go out and make peace happen right then.
He even has a room for it in the plans for the new library ....
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