Special report: Israel launches Gaza assault

¡¡¡¡By Wang Xin

    BEIRUT, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip sparked outrage in Lebanon, where politicians and religious figures strongly condemned the Israeli incursion and called on the international community to intervene.

    Israel has launched a military offensive in the Gaza Strip in the past few days to rescue an Israeli soldier kidnapped by Palestinian militants last Sunday.

    Early on Thursday, Israeli forces also rounded up eight ministers in the Hamas-led Palestinian government and 23 Hamas lawmakers in the West Bank.

    Israel's large-scale military operation has raised Lebanon's concern and prompted Lebanese politicians to denounce the offensive.

    Lebanese parliament majority leader Saad Hariri has warned against military escalation, saying Israel was using oppressive means to prevent the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) from assuming its responsibilities and undermining all peaceful efforts to establish an independent Palestinian state.

    "Denouncing the attacks is no longer enough," local newspaper Daily Star quoted Hariri as saying on Saturday.

    "The situation requires an Arab move to halt Israel's assaults and prevent it from executing its expansionist plans", Hariri said.

    He added that the "insane" offensive threatens the entire region and called for an effective and quick initiative from the international community.

    Meanwhile, Lebanese leading Shiite cleric Hussein Fadlallah on Friday also denounced Israel's military assault in Gaza Strip, saying Israel is trying to eliminate "the Palestinian address".

    "The racist Jewish army is still killing Palestinian youths, women, children and elderly for fear that they fight against the occupation force," Fadlallah said.

    On Thursday, Lebanese political leaders resumed their 9th round of the National Dialogue, where they divided about the contentious issue of Hizbullah's right to hold weapons, but united in denouncing the Israeli assault and calling for a diplomatic actionto stop it.

    After the meeting, the parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said: "the national dialogue conference denounces the continued Israeli aggression which represents the highest levels of state terrorism."

    "We ask the international community to take up its responsibility ... and ask the (Lebanese) government to work with Arab states in order to seek an action by the U.N. Security Council against this invasion and declared war," he added.

    Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, who headed a cabinet meeting Thursday, said Lebanon should call on the U.N. Security Council to meet before Israel's assault on Gaza Strip spiraled out of control.

    "The most important event in the political arena is what is going on in the Gaza Strip," Lahoud said in the session, adding that "the government should have taken an initiative along with the Arab countries to halt Israel's attacks."

    Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, also presented at the meeting, denounced the Israeli attack which he said was a "violation of humanitarian values".

    "This constitutes a mass extermination which we cannot accept,"Siniora said.

    On Friday, the Allied Palestinian Forces held a march in Bourj al-Barajneh refugee camp, south of Beirut, to protest against Israeli attacks on the Palestinians, while refugees in north Lebanon's camps held a sit-in in Tripoli.

    The sit-in was organized by Palestinian resistance factions in northern Lebanon and attended by members and supporters of Hamas and Islamic Jihad (Holy war), as well as national parties and Islamic committees.

    Hamas representative Abu Rabih Bassem insisted on Palestinians' rights to resist the occupation by all means until they reclaim their land.

    The protestors also released a statement urging U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to exert pressure on Israel to halt its attacks on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and withdraw from the Palestinian territory.

    Israel's military operation is the first massive Israeli ground offensive in Gaza since it withdrew troops and settlers from the territory last summer after 38 years of occupation. Enditem