Special report: Israel launches Gaza assault    

    KUALA LUMPUR, July 5 (Xinhua) -- A Palestine diplomat called here on Wednesday for an international peace conference to be held immediately to discuss the Palestine issue and stop Israel's continued aggression in the Gaza Strip.

    The Palestinians were in dire need of international protection, Palestinian Ambassador to Malaysia Abdelaziz Aboughosh told local reporters here.

    The international community can provide protection in the Balkans and some other troubled areas before, why it is not doing so for the Palestinian people, he said.

    The Palestine diplomat also said that such an international conference was necessary to realize the two-state solution as envisaged in the roadmap towards peace in the Middle East. Israel is bombarding Palestinian schools, streets and buildings and damaging the electricity supply. It is destroying the core elements of infrastructure for the Palestinian state, he said.

    This showed that Israel is not interested in the two-state solution, he said.

    The Palestinians, he said, are more eager than anybody else to work towards peace and stability.

    It is not a hobby to fight, it is not a hobby to die, Palestinians are not terrorists, and Israel's occupation is the "highest degree of terrorism", he said.

    Malaysia, as chairman of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Conference and the 116-strong Non-Aligned Movement, has urged the United Nations to call upon an emergency meeting to press Israel to cease all forms of military action in Gaza. Enditem