- Title: WEST BANK: Abbas aide calls for halt to Israeli operation against Hamas in Gaza
- Date: 2nd January 2009
- Summary: RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (JANUARY 1, 2009) (REUTERS) WIDE OF AIDE TO PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD ABBAS, YASER ABED RABBO, ARRIVING AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) AIDE TO PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD ABBAS, YASER ABED RABBO, SAYING: "We will do our best so that the Security Council will not decide only a ceasefire, but will decide the hour when the ceasefire will be applied. We want a decision, a resolution by the Security Council that is applicable". JOURNALISTS WRITING NOTES (SOUNDBITE) (English) AIDE TO PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD ABBAS, YASER ABED RABBO, SAYING: "That's why we think that this resolution should combine between a clear decision for a ceasefire on the one hand, and a clear decision to lift the siege and to open all the crossings". CLOSE OF JOURNALIST'S HAND HOLDING PEN WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE VARIOUS OF MEMBERS OF PALESTINIAN LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL AND SUPPORTERS DEMONSTRATING IN CITY CENTRE, PROTESTING AGAINST ISRAEL'S OPERATION IN GAZA
- Embargoed: 17th January 2009 12:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: International Relations,Defence / Military
- Reuters ID: LVA3TYP7OVDL5QVOPNQBCQXFD0LK
- Story Text: Aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas calls for Israel halt hostilities in Gaza as scorers of Palestinians take to the streets in protest against violence that has killed more than 400 Palestinians and four Israelis.
An aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged on Thursday (January 1) the United Nations Security Council to vote on a ceasefire to halt violence between Hamas and Israel, during which some 399 Palestinians and four Israelis have been killed.
"We will do our best so that the Security Council will not decide only a ceasefire, but will decide the hour when the ceasefire will be applied.
We want a decision, a resolution by the Security Council that is applicable", said Yaser Abed Rabbo, a top aide to Abbas, at a news conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Abbas himself went to New York, where the U.N. Security Council held an emergency session but adjourned without a vote after Arab countries pushed for a demand for an immediate ceasefire. Western delegates described the Arab-drafted resolution as unbalanced and said negotiations would continue to reach an agreed text.
Meanwhile in the West Bank city of Ramallah, several dozens of members of the Palestinian legislative council took to the streets to protest against Israel's operation in the Gaza Strip.
"The message of the Palestinian parliament to all the member of parliaments in the world is to stress the need of supporting the Palestinian people and pressuring their governments to stop this hostility against our Palestinian people," said the Deputy Head of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Hasan Khreish, during the protest.
Mustafa Barghouti, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, said Palestinians are united in their call on Israel to halt its hostilities against Hamas in Gaza.
"All of us are here united against the aggression on the Palestinian Parliament in Gaza, against the destruction of the house of democracy," he said.
In the West Bank village of Nilin, dozens of Palestinians clashed with Israeli soldiers during a funeral procession for a man who was shot by Israeli troops on Monday (December 29) while he was demonstrating against the Israeli operation in Gaza. The man, Mohammed Al-Khwaga, died of his wounds on Wednesday (December 31).
On Thursday, Israel killed senior Hamas leader in an air attack on his home in the Gaza strip, striking its first deadly blow against the top ranks of Hamas.
Israeli aircraft also attacked government buildings in the Hamas-run coastal territory and the Islamist group fired more rockets at Israel after both foes spurned international calls for a ceasefire.
Israeli tanks and troops were massed near the border of coastal enclave and the Haaretz newspaper reported on Thursday the Israeli army had recommended a major but short-term ground offensive into the densely populated enclave.
Hamas rockets hit the Israeli cities of Beersheba, Ashdod and Ashkelon.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Three Israeli civilians and a soldier have been killed by rockets from the Gaza Strip since Israel began an air offensive on Saturday (December 27) with the declared aim of ending the rocket threat.
Foreign pressure grew on both sides to hold their fire but Israel brushed aside as "unrealistic" a French proposal for a 48-hour truce that would allow in more humanitarian aid for Gaza's 1.5 million residents.
Diplomats said the deadliest conflict in the Gaza Strip in four decades could get even bloodier after days of air strikes that have killed at least 400 Palestinians, about a quarter of whom, U.N. figures showed, were civilians, and wounded more than 1,700. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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