Special report: Israel launches Gaza assault
UNITED NATIONS, June 30 (Xinhua) -- The U.N. Security Council on Friday held an emergency session on the situation in the Middle East, with most of the member states underscoring the importance of a formal response by the Council to the deteriorating situation.
The meeting, held at the requests of Qatar and the Arab League, heard a briefing from Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Angela Kane, who gave a detailed account to the 15-member body of how the crisis has developed over the past five days.
Describing the escalating violence over the past few days in the Gaza Strip as a "grave crisis," Kane warned the Council that another full-scale conflict between Israel and Palestinians could easily be set off.
Kane thus urged all sides in the region to "step back from the brink," saying "the slightest turn of events could easily set off another full-scale conflict between Israel and Palestinians, bringing greater dangers to civilians, and with serious regional repercussions."
"All parties must recognize this, and act with wisdom and care, and in full conformity with international humanitarian law," she added.
Riyad Mansour, the Permanent Observer of Palestine, said Israel's recent military aggression was "clearly premeditated and planned" well prior to the capture of an Israeli soldier on June 25, adding that Israel had been threatening to launch a major invasion of the Gaza Strip.
He called on the Council to address the crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory by condemning Israeli aggression and calling for the immediate cessation of hostilities, compliance with international law, withdrawal of the Israeli occupying forces from within the Gaza Strip, and release of Palestinian officials detained by Israel.
A failure to do so would only serve to bolster the occupying power's impunity, he observed.
However, Israel's Ambassador Daniel Carmon argued that his country could not tolerate a situation in which its citizens were being held hostage by members of a terrorist group.
"The military operation now taking place was specific in nature and limited in scope, and Israel was taking every effort to minimize any harm to Palestinian civilians," he noted.
Other participants in the Council debate decried Israel's military operations as punitive to the civilian population and called for urgent humanitarian assistance to address a dire and worsening situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin stressed that although Israel had a right to protect its citizens, it could not do so at the price of the entire Palestinian population, through methods of collective punishment on residents of Gaza and other places in Palestine.
British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry noted that a return to negotiations was the best way to ensure lasting peace, saying that the Council had a responsibility to encourage such negotiations and to help give them best chances of success.
He also reminded members that those goals could not be achieved, so long as one party refused to accept the right of the other to exist.
Nevertheless, the United States obviously opposed pressing Israel too much. U.S. Ambassador John Bolton argued the Council should tread cautiously before issuing any remarks, much less a formal statement, and should not undermine its limited credibility by engaging in rhetoric for its own sake.
Meanwhile, he tried to shift the focus to Syria and Iran, saying the prerequisite for ending the conflict was for the two countries to end their role as state sponsors of terrorism. Enditem
