European Union president Slovenia and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon blasted Israel's "disproportionate use of force" in Gaza and urged it "to exercise maximum restraint and refrain from all activities that endanger civilians".

Israel should invite EU President Slovenia and Secretary General Ban to hold discussions, half a day in Sderot and half a day in Ashkelon. Then invite the citizens of those cities to join them.


Israel keeps up deadly Gaza assault as Abbas halts contacts

March 2, 2008

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jzh5KnkFuqTy4uaoSGBPRaL6gaFw

GAZA CITY (AFP) — Israel kept up its deadly assault on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip on Sunday, as Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas halted all contacts with the Jewish state over the blitz threatening to sink peace talks.

Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed to continue the ground and air operation against Palestinian targets.

"It must be clear that Israel has no intention to stop for one moment the fight against terror organisations," Olmert said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting.

Abbas suspended all contacts with Israel over the assault, which has killed 70 people including children and comes just days before US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is to arrive in the region on her latest attempt to push forward the troubled peace negotiations revived just three months ago.

"The negotiations are suspended, as are all contacts on all levels, because in light of the Israeli aggression such communication has no meaning," Abbas' spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said in a statement.

Israel bears the "sole responsibility for hindering the peace process and all the effects and consequences of this decision," he said.

The two sides revived their peace talks to great fanfare at a US conference in late November, but the negotiations have made little headway since.

Seven more Palestinians, including one civilian, were killed early on Sunday amid a continuing Israeli air and ground blitz aimed at halting militants from firing rockets from Gaza, medics said.
Olmert rejected criticism Israel was using excessive force in the densely-packed territory.
"We must remember that Israel is protecting its citizens in the south of the country and that with all due respect, nothing will prevent us from this duty," he said. "No-one has the moral right to preach to Israel for excercising its right to self-defence."

In the northern town of Jabaliya, where Israeli ground troops operated for a second day in a row, residents cowered indoors for fear of being caught in the crossfire between the soldiers and militants.

In the occupied West Bank, thousands of people took to the streets throughout the territory protesting the Israeli blitz.

A 13-year-old Palestinian boy was shot dead by Israeli troops during a demonstration in which youths protesting the Gaza assault threw stones at soldiers, medics said.

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said Israel would continue to strike militant positions throughout Gaza despite warnings that the violence, which has also left two Israeli soldiers dead, was endangering the negotiations.

The UN Security Council, meeting at Abbas' request, condemned the violence and urged both sides to respect their obligations under international law.

Members "underscore the need for all parties to immediately cease all acts of violence," read a statement following five hours of hard-nosed talks in New York, which also said the violence should not derail the peace talks.

European Union president Slovenia blasted Israel's "disproportionate use of force" in Gaza and urged it "to exercise maximum restraint and refrain from all activities that endanger civilians."
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had also slammed "the disproportionate and excessive use of force that has killed and injured so many civilians, including children."

At least 303 people have been killed in Israeli-Palestinian violence, most of them Gaza militants, since the relaunch of the talks, according to an AFP tally.

Rice was due to arrive in the region this week on her latest trip to try and nudge along the talks that Washington had hoped would lead the two sides to ink a peace deal before US President George W. Bush leaves office in January 2009.

Rice was to arrive in Cairo on Tuesday and then travel to Ramallah and Jerusalem for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

The United States has called for an end to violence but said Israel had a right to defend itself.
The Gulf Arab states, other Arab countries and Iran condemned the Israeli operation, along with France which also called for a halt to Palestinian rocket attacks.

Pope Benedict XVI renewed a call for a halt to fighting, calling on Israel and the Palestinians "to stop this spiral of violence, unilaterally and without conditions."