- Title: MIDDLE EAST: Israeli DM Peretz meets with EU chief Javier Solana
- Date: 22nd May 2007
- Summary: (W2) ISRAEL-GAZA BORDER (MAY 22, 2007) (REUTERS) ISRAELI TANKS POSITIONED ALONG BORDER VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS MANNING TANKS HELICOPTER HOVERING OVER THE BORDER VARIOUS OF TANKS BY THE BORDER
- Embargoed: 6th June 2007 13:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVA5AFOXY5068X6ZC6OU5PJ7O0FN
- Story Text: "We are not planning to stop, we will stop when the rockets stop. The rockets stop, then we stop. If they don't then it is our obligation to protect our citizens and children," Peretz said ahead of his meeting with Solana in Jerusalem.
He said Israel was "biting its lip" and refraining, for now, from launching a wide-scale ground offensive in Gaza, and called for the international community to intervene to avoid "anarchy".
"As a man of peace I tell you that the Hamas government, the terrorist organisations, have become enemies of peace. If the international community does not stop this immediately, we will find ourselves in anarchy in which the Palestinian Authority collapses completely and the effect on the entire region will be very severe," Peretz said standing next to Solana.
The European chief said Israel and Palestinian must renew a political dialogue which will bring an end to the fighting.
"We would like very much to see and help to calm that situation down to cool it off and to see if it is still possible to move on on a political perspective, which is in the end of the day the only solution. Violence will not make anybody win," Solana said.
Israel's security cabinet decided on Sunday to escalate military action in response to some 150 rockets fired from Gaza since last week. Israeli air strikes over the past week have so far killed at least 34 Palestinians, medical officials in Gaza said.
A volley of rockets fired from Gaza on Monday (May 21) night hit the Israeli southern town of Sderot, killing one Israeli and wounding two others. Hamas, along with two other Palestinian militant groups, claimed responsibility for the rocket attack.
The woman's death in the southern Israeli town of Sderot marked the first fatality in a Palestinian rocket attack since November and is likely to stoke further Israeli anger.
Palestinians fear Israel may soon raid Gaza should the violence continue. Several tanks, armoured vehicles and artillery batteries have been stationed near the northern border for days.
Israeli Interior Minister Roni Baron visited the rocket--baterred town of Sderot, located 5 km (3 miles) away from Gaza, to meet residents and local security and rescue teams.
Baron said that the Islamist militant movement of Hamas would suffer painful strikes.
"Any damage we'll suffer they will suffer ten times the same damage. Any loss we'll have to carry, they'll have to carry ten times the same loss," Baron told Reuters Television.
A Hamas official renewed on Monday a long-standing call for a comprehensive ceasefire with Israel extending to the occupied West Bank, saying Palestinian factions would agree to a ceasefire with Israel if it stops its raids and killings in the occupied West Bank . Baron called this call a "manipulation" by Hamas.
Israel has said its raids to detain suspected militants in the West Bank are necessary to stop planned attacks on Israelis.
Israel has imposed a general closure on the occupied West Bank and Gaza during a two-days Jewish holiday of Shavuot. Palestinians are banned from entering Israel and the army said it would allow passage on basis of humanitarian cases only. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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