UN ponders draft resolution condemning Israel's Gaza offensive

    UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- The UN General Assembly (GA) held an emergency special session on Friday to debate a draft resolution sponsored by Qatar that seeks to condemn Israel's recent military operations in the Gaza Strip, particularly the deadly attack on Palestinian homes in Beit Hanoun.

    The session, convened at the request of Arab delegations and the Non-Aligned Movement, followed Arab accusations that the UN Security Council had failed to shoulder its responsibility due to a U.S. veto on Nov. 11 of an Arab-sponsored draft resolution that would have condemned the deadly Israeli attack in Gaza and urged an immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from there. Full Story

Beit Hanoun turned into ruins after Israeli offensives

Family members mourn the dead at the hospital morgue in the Gaza strip town of Beit Lahiya Wednesday Nov. 8, 2006. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

    BEIT HANOUN, Gaza Strip, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- Suffusing with smell of burnt gunpowder, the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun was turned into ruins after a bloody six-day Israeli assault against the coastal strip.

    On early Wednesday, Israeli artillery shells killed 18 Palestinian civilians in Beit Hanoun, including 13 from one family.

Israel wants direct talks, not new peace initiative

    JERUSALEM, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- Israeli government on Thursday dismissed a new Middle East peace initiative proposed by three European countries which called for an international conference, saying what it wanted direct negotiation with relevant parties.

    "The new initiative was most likely Spanish ideas that were not coordinated with the EU or Israel," a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman told Xinhua, commenting on the initiative put forward earlier by Spain, France and Italy.

Israel's Peretz pledges to continue pressure on Gaza

    JERUSALEM, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz on Thursday vowed to keep pressure on the Gaza Strip in order to alleviate rocket firing, local media reported.

    Peretz made the remarks during the weekly security assessment on Thursday, a day after one woman was killed and two others were seriously wounded in rocket strikes on southern Israeli town of Sedrot by Palestinian militants.