Text size:

World reaction to Israeli-Hamasviolence is split

COMBINED NEWS SERVICES

December 28, 2008

The United States said yesterday it held Hamas "responsible" as world powers called for an immediate end to violence after the massive Israeli airstrikes on Gaza and rocket attacks by Palestinian militants.

President George W. Bush, through a spokesman, said "Hamas' continued rocket attacks into Israel must cease if the violence is to stop." At his ranch in Crawford, Texas, Bush also urged Israel to "avoid civilian casualties as it targets Hamas in Gaza."

As the European Union, Russia and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged both sides to stop the violence, Israel's strongest ally pinned the blame on the Islamist group for breaking a cease-fire that expired on Dec. 19.

"The United States strongly condemns the repeated rocket and mortar attacks against Israel and holds Hamas responsible for breaking the cease-fire and for the renewal of violence in Gaza," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.

President-elect Barack Obama's national security spokeswoman said Obama "is closely monitoring global events, including the situation in Gaza, but there is one president at a time."

The Arab world reacted to the attacks with outrage, the Arab League singled out Israel, and the Organization of the Islamic Conference called Israel's offensive a "war crime" for not protecting civilian lives.

Amr Mussa, secretary general of the Arab League, called for an emergency meeting today of foreign ministers of Arab countries. In Baghdad, the Iraqi government said it would take part in that meeting and condemned Israel's strikes for leaving behind "many victims - innocent people and children."

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit extended condolences to the Palestinians killed and said Egypt, which brokered the six-month truce between Hamas and Israel that expired a little over a week ago, had been trying to avoid such an escalation.

Egypt also came under fire from many in the Arab world for its role, with Israel, in closing the Gaza Strip after the militant group Hamas came to power in June 2007.

Middle East envoy Tony Blair deplored the "tragic of loss of life," urging a "new strategy for Gaza, which brings that territory back under the legitimate rule of the Palestinian Authority in a manner which ends their suffering and fully protects the security of Israel."

Russia's foreign ministry called on Israel "to halt immediately the large-scale acts of force," while German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told Hamas to "immediately and definitively end its unacceptable rocket attacks against Israel," the newspaper Bild am Sonntag reported.