Arabs: Block F-16 Sales to Israel in Response to Gaza Bombing
CAIRO,
July 25 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Arab ambassadors here
Thursday, July 25, began debate on a Palestinian plan to respond to
Israel’s deadly air strike in Gaza, which includes calls to block
the export to Israel of a U.S.-made warplane used in the attack.
The
memorandum submitted by the Palestinian delegation to the 22-member
Arab League also includes calls for the United Nations to equate
Israeli actions with “state terrorism” and for it to provide
protection for the Palestinians, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
The
Palestinian delegation head Mohammed Sobeih said he and the other Arab
ambassadors to the league would also discuss an Arab request in New
York for an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting about the raid and
its aftermath.
Arab
countries want the Security Council “to shoulder its international
responsibilities and provide international protection for the
Palestinian people against Israeli terrorism,” he said.
Since
the Palestinian uprising began almost two years ago, the Arab League
has frequently called for an international protection force to be sent
to the Palestinian territories, but Israel, backed by the United
States, has repeatedly objected to such a force.
Under
the plan submitted by Sobeih, the Arab ambassadors are to “urge all
states to stop the export of weapons, particularly the F-16, to
Israel, which uses it to strike Palestinian cities, villages and
refugee camps.”
According
to the plan, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, the Arabs are to
urge the United Nations to consider as “state terrorism” the
“crimes committed 24 hours a day by Israel against the Palestinian
people.”
In
Washington, U.S. State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher said the
United States did not object to the debate at the United Nations and
warned Israel about violating U.S. arms export control laws.
Those
laws require the State Department to report to Congress if it believes
that there has been a “substantial violation” of the terms of sale
of the weapons which prohibit their use for anything other than
“legitimate self-defense or internal security.”
Another
State Department official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity,
said a review of the Gaza incident in relation to the law was likely.
Speaking
to journalists before the meeting began, Sobeih said that by
“applauding this slaughter,” Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
“proved his determination to strike any Palestinian, Arab or
international attempt to put the peace process back on track.”
An
Israeli F-16 early Tuesday, July 23, dropped a one-ton bomb on a
building in densely-populated Gaza City, killing 17 civilians, twelve
of them children, as well as its target, the military chief of the
Palestinian resistance group Hamas, and his bodyguard.
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