| Israel accuses UN of aiding terrorism The largest operation of the Israel Defense Forces in the last two years has unfolded in the Gaza Strip. Operation Days of Repentance involves more than 2 thousand soldiers, several hundred tanks and armored personnel carriers, as well as military aircraft. The main goal of the Israeli strike is to destroy workshops for the production of Qassam missiles, weapons depots and explosives.
The army entered the Palestinian territories after two Israeli children were killed by Qassam rockets in the city of Sderot on September 28. The military is confident that the rockets were launched from the Jabaliya refugee camp, located in the north of the Gaza Strip. According to the Israelis, 58 Palestinians have been killed since the start of hostilities. Palestinian sources report more than 60 killed and hundreds wounded.
In connection with the Israeli operation, a state of emergency has been introduced in the Gaza Strip and throughout the Palestinian Authority. The Russian Foreign Ministry called on Israel to refrain from the “indiscriminate use of force,” especially in densely populated Palestinian areas, and to be guided by international humanitarian standards when exercising the right to self-defense. Knesset member from the right-wing National Unity party Yuri Stern, in an interview with Vremya Novostey, said that he considers the reaction of the Russian Foreign Ministry “hypocritical.” “Russian officials apparently do not understand that this position of Russia does not at all contribute to the fight against terrorism,” Mr. Stern noted.
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Krea postponed his visit to Russia, scheduled for the middle of this week, indefinitely and appealed to the leaders of Palestinian radicals. "Palestinian organizations must understand what the core Palestinian interest is and stop actions that harm it," Crea said.
After several days of fighting, as a result of which Palestinian militants suffered significant losses, radical Islamic groups offered Israel a truce. One of the leaders of the radical Hamas organization in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniyya, said that Hamas will stop firing rockets into Israeli territory “if Israel stops its aggression against the Palestinians.”
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon rejected the vague proposal. “Words are of no use here. The Israel Defense Forces is making the necessary efforts to ensure the safety of its citizens,” the prime minister said. Sharon added that the Israeli army will remain in the Palestinian territories as long as there is a danger of Qassam rockets attacking Jewish settlements.
True, according to the head of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat, “Palestinian rockets create only noise, but do not cause real harm.” In his message to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan yesterday, Arafat demanded immediate intervention by the international community to “stop the bloodbath in the north of the Gaza Strip.”
However, the attention of the UN is already tightly focused on the Arab-Israeli conflict. The Israeli military released a scandalous video late last week showing militants from the paramilitary wing of Hamas, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, loading Qassam rockets into a vehicle with UN markings. The footage was taken from an unmanned surveillance aircraft on October 1 in the Jabaliya refugee camp. According to the military, it proves that Palestinian terrorists are using UN vehicles to transport weapons.
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Dan Gilerman demanded that Kofi Annan strip the powers of the Commissioner General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Peter Hansen. Gilerman recalled that Palestinian militants have already used UN vehicles to leave the combat zone and transport weapons. This follows from documents presented by the Israeli military after the operation in Rafah in May this year. In 2000, militants from the Lebanese extremist group Hezbollah kidnapped three Israeli soldiers in UN mission vehicles, who were later killed.
Danish diplomat Peter Hansen took up his current post four years ago. He has repeatedly accused Israel of attacks on UNRWA staff, most recently on July 15. Hansen insists that the Palestinians in the released video are loading stretchers, not rockets, into the car. According to him, Qassam rockets weigh about 50 kg, and the Palestinian on the film is carrying an object weighing no more than a few kilograms and about 5 centimeters wide.
But, as the press service of the Israeli army told VN, Qassam missiles weigh 5 to 16 kg - such a weight that any person can handle. Former adviser to the civil administration of the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, retired colonel Yonatan Tzoref, in an interview with VN, said that, despite Peter Hansen’s statements, there could still be missiles in UN vehicles. “In the Palestinian territories, the same Palestinians work for the UN, and especially UNRWA. Therefore, it cannot be denied that some UN officials may be collaborating with terrorists in the Gaza Strip,” Mr. Tzoref said. Dmitry DUBOV, Jerusalem |
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