COPENHAGEN,
December 7 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The European Union
Saturday, December 7, joined the United Nations in strongly condemning
an Israeli raid on a Gaza Strip refugee camp in which 10 Palestinians,
including two U.N. employees were killed, and 19 others were wounded.
The
E.U.'s Danish presidency said it "strongly condemns military or
other violent actions directed indiscriminately against a civilian
neighborhood, whether Palestinian or Israeli.
"There
can be no justification for the high number of killed and injured as a
result of last night's Israeli incursion into the El-Bureij refugee camp
in Gaza," a statement said, according to Agence France-Presse
(AFP).
The
E.U. "has consistently rejected Israeli methods of extra-judicial
killings and house demolitions and Israel's excessive use of force.
"Neither
this nor any other actions causing civilian casualties will bring
security to the Israeli public. On the contrary, military and violent
actions from both sides only serve to breed more hatred and undermine
the attempts by the parties and by the international community to bring
about reconciliation and a negotiated end to the conflict."
Danish
Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller denounced Israel’s "excessive
use of force against innocent civilians."
"It's
deeply tragic ... being a witness to such operations that we strongly
condemn because they do nothing but stoke the flames of hate," he
said, quoted by AFP.
"There
is only one path to peace: that will end with the establishment of a
Palestinian state alongside Israel," he added.
The
deadly Israeli incursion into Al-Bureij camp also prompted the U.S.
State Department to urge Israel to consider the consequences of its
military actions in the occupied territories, reported Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
The
10 Palestinians were killed early Friday, December 6, when some 40
Israeli tanks and armored vehicles, backed by helicopters, stormed the
densely populated camp.
The
raid cast a pall over celebrations of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holidays,
as did a failed abduction attempt in the West Bank Friday evening, in
which Israeli forces shot dead a resistance activist.
The
occupation army, for its part, claimed the Gaza raid was aimed at
destroying the house of a wanted activist as well as hunting members of
the Islamic resistance group Hamas.
When
Israeli forces rolled out of the camp near Deir al-Balah, 19
Palestinians had also been wounded, five seriously, Palestinian medical
sources said.
Four
members of the same family were killed when their house was hit by a
tank shell, they added.
As
the Palestinians buried their dead, crowds of angry men vowed revenge
for the latest Israeli massacre. "We are committed to the
continuation of jihad [holy struggle] and martyr operations until our
land is liberated," members of Hamas shouted through loudspeakers
at the camp's cemetery. Hamas lost six of its resistance activists in
the raid.
Meanwhile,
the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which runs the raided camp,
said two of its employees were among the dead and that it would launch
an investigation.
"I
must condemn what appears to be the indiscriminate use of heavy
firepower in a densely populated civilian area. UNRWA will carry out a
detailed inquiry into the deaths," UNRWA Commissioner General Peter
Hansen said in a statement carried by AFP.
U.N.
Secretary General Kofi Annan said he was "gravely disturbed by the
Israeli military attack," while the U.N. commissioner for human
rights, Sergio Vieira de Mello, also slammed the loss of life of 10
Palestinian civilians at the hand of Israeli forces.
One
of the murdered UNRWA employees, teacher Alham Al-Wawi, was the only
woman killed in the raid.
Nabil
Abu Rudeina, a senior aide to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat,
condemned the raid. "This is a new massacre and crime against our
unarmed people," he said.
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"It's
deeply tragic ... being a witness to such operations that we
strongly condemn," said Moeller
|
Jordan
also condemned the latest Israeli atrocity. "This shameful
aggression constitutes a horrible new crime by the Israeli occupation
forces against the Palestinian people," Information Minister
Mohamed Adwan was quoted by the official Petra news agency as saying.
"It
equally constitutes proof of Israel's refusal to bend to the
international will ... this camp, in particular, being under the
protection of the United Nations," he added.
Adwan
reiterated Jordan's condemnation of any violence against civilians. He
said it "is time to withdraw from the cycle of violence and give a
chance to current diplomatic efforts, notably those of the
quartet." That was a reference to the United States, Russia, United
Nations and European Union, who have put forward a "roadmap"
for Middle East peace that envisions the creation of a Palestinian state
by 2005.
And
in the Gulf, almost all daily newspapers lashed out at the Israeli
occupation army's "barbaric practices".
"This
massacre is the Eid gift for Palestinians from the man U.S. President
George Bush likes to call a 'man of peace'," said Qatar's Al-Watan
daily referring to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
"Israel,
which likes to remind the world that it is the most barbarous and bloody
state, has given an Eid gift to the Palestinians by carrying out a new
massacre," said Saudi Arabia's Al-Watan.
For
Al-Madina, also published in the kingdom, where all media reflect
official thinking, "Sharon has attacked the sacred nature of the
Eid," following a message from Bush to Muslims.
The
daily urged Washington to "take a clear stance on this massacre
carried out in the middle of a Muslim festival, the importance of which
to most families could be compared to Christmas in the mainly Christian
West."
In
Doha, Al-Raya urged the Arabs "to change strategy and
tactics in the face of Israel and those who support it in the United
States."
"The
massacre message is that the terrorist Sharon no longer takes any
account of the anger of Arabs and Muslims," said the Dubai
government daily Al-Bayan.
Al-Khaleej,
in the neighboring emirate of Sharjah, said the deadly Israeli offensive
required a new definition of terrorism to be drawn up.
"What
is terrorism if not targeting innocents in their homes in the middle of
a religious festival?" the daily asked
