Libya stands by comparison of Nazi concentration camps, Gaza
30/4/08
Libya stands by its United Nation envoy’s comparison of the plight of Palestinians in Gaza to the Holocaust and deplores a walkout by Western diplomats in protest at the comments, official Libyan media reported on Wednesday. Libya’s Foreign Ministry summoned the ambassadors of France, Belgium and Britain and the U.S. charge d’affaires and asked them to explain the April 23 walkout at the UN Security Council, the Jana news agency reported. Western UN envoys walked out of a Council discussion that day after a Libyan diplomat likened the plight of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to the Nazi Holocaust. “The Libyan representative at the Security Council was right to express the stance of his country,” Jana quoted Abdelatti Abidi, head of the ministry’s European Affairs department, as saying. Among the diplomats who left the council chamber were the U.S., French, British, Belgian and Costa Rican envoys, diplomats have said. Some others remained. Such protests against fellow Security Council members are rare, diplomats said.
See: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/979497.html
B’Tselem: IDF probe into death of Gazan family not enough
30/4/08
The B’Tselem human rights organization urged the Military Advocate General on Wednesday to launch a criminal investigation into the killing of a Gaza mother and four children on Monday. Israel and Hamas have traded accusationsover the incident. Hamas maintains that an IDF tank fired a shell that killed the family, while the Israel Defense Forces said the deaths were caused by a “secondary explosion” after two missiles troops fired against Palestinian militants near the family’s tin-hut home detonated explosive devices carried by the militants. While the IDF has already appointed an officer to lead an inquest into the incident, B’Tselem maintains it is not enough, and an additional independent probe should tackle the responsibility of the higher echelons and the wider systemic implications.
See: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/979473.html
Israeli-Palestinian paper criticizes 10 W. Bank roadblocks
Akiva Eldar
Ten roadblocks that Israel set up in the West Bank have little security value and are needlessly disrupting trade in the Palestinian territories, according to a joint Israeli-Palestinian report recently submitted to security authorities. The report, the first of its kind, was drawn up by a team that included U.S. experts, Palestinian officials and two Israel Defense Forces reserves officers serving in Civil Administration in the West Bank. The team’s recommendations, urging Israel to remove the roadblocks, were written under the auspices of the Peres Center for Peace, The Palestine Center for National Strategic Studies and the Danish government.
See: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/979136.html
What Has Happened to the Conscience of the World?’
Siraj Wahab;30/4/08
The headlines coming out of Gaza daily stun people as women and children are slain by Israeli airstrikes and the plight of the Palestinians worsens through blockades and embargoes of food, fuel and freedom. Pick up any newspaper, turn on any news channel and the message is the same: Gaza is a war zone - a war zone with only one army and an entire population of victims, struggling to stay alive and wondering if they will be alive tomorrow.
See: http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=109462&d=30&m=4&y=2008
Tags: Conscience, Death of Family Investigation, Europe, Roadblocks, UN, USA