JAPAN: Protesters in front of Israel embassy in Tokyo calling peaceful resolution in Gaza as fighting continues to rage on for a fifth day

Record ID: 397579

  • Title: JAPAN: Protesters in front of Israel embassy in Tokyo calling peaceful resolution in Gaza as fighting continues to rage on for a fifth day
  • Date: 18th November 2012
  • Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (NOVEMBER 18, 2012) (REUTERS) DEMONSTRATORS PROTESTING IN FRONT OF ISRAEL EMBASSY IN TOKYO, JAPAN DEMONSTRATOR LEADING PROTEST CHANT ON MEGAPHONE PALESTINE FLAG WITH "FREEDOM FOR PALESTINE" WRITTEN IN ENGLISH BEING WAVED PLACARD IN ENGLISH AND JAPANESE READING "END ISRAEL'S ATTACK ON GAZA" VARIOUS OF DEMONSTRATORS CHANTING IN JAPANESE, ENGLISH AND ARABIC
  • Embargoed: 3rd December 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Conflict
  • Reuters ID: LVA2LK99JIEPOHG4WCYRAJW6GCLB
  • Story Text: Protesters gathered in Tokyo on Sunday (November 18) to call a peaceful resolution in Gaza as fighting continues to rage on for a fifth day.
    About 50 demonstrated in front of the Israel Embassy in Japan and chanted "Free Palestine" in various languages.
    Forty-eight Palestinians, about half of them civilians, including 13 children, have been killed in Israel's raids, Palestinian officials said. More than 500 rockets fired from Gaza have hit Israel, killing three people and injuring dozens.
    The United States has emphasized diplomacy and de-escalation.
    They are currently in talks with several neighbouring countries in the region over how to end the Gaza conflict.
    Many of the protesters present were critical of the United States role in the controversial area.
    "I believe that the U.S. needs to take a fairer stance on the situation," said recently retired professor of history specializing in the Middle East, Eisuke Naramoto.
    For others it was Japan's lack of action that was a source of disappointment.
    "Japan neither says, nor does anything to stop it even though I believe they have the power to stop it through international relations or in their visits to Israel and the United States. But they aren't doing that," 31-year-old demonstration organizer Ryota Sano said.
    Demonstrators at the Israel embassy on Sunday demanded that an official from the residence receive an official letter of protest. But they received no response after ringing the intercom's button several times.
    Israel unleashed intensive air strikes on Wednesday (November 14), killing the commander of the Hamas Islamist group that governs Gaza and spurns peace with the Jewish state. Israel's declared goal is to deplete Gaza arsenals and press Hamas into stopping cross-border rocket fire that has plagued Israeli border towns for years.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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