Agencies
DUBAI, Jan 10: Israel has rejected the call by the United Nations Security Council for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and has continued with its massive offensive in the coastal strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said at the end of a security Cabinet meeting on Friday the U.N. plan was “unworkable.” He said the military would continue with its operations, citing the fresh salvo of Palestinian rockets that were fired into Israel from Gaza on Friday. “The firing of rockets this morning only goes to show that the U.N. decision is unworkable and will not be adhered to by the murderous Palestinian organisations,” he said in a statement. Mr. Olmert’s office said Israel “has never agreed to let an external body decide its right to protect the security of its citizens.”
Israeli air raids and ground assaults on Friday killed at least 12 Palestinians, medical sources said. Palestinian doctors said six Gaza residents of the same family were killed on Friday when tanks shelled a house in Beit Lahiya, north of the Strip. An Israeli military spokesman said the air force attacked 50 targets overnight.
The Palestinian group Hamas, which has been battling the Israelis in Gaza since December 27, had also rejected the Security Council’s ceasefire resolution. Osama Hamdan, representative of Hamas in Lebanon, said the resolution did not affect Hamas as it had been drafted without consultations with the group.
Turkish-Syrian plan
Contrary to the U.N. resolution, and another plan being drafted by Egypt and France, Hamas supports an alternative proposal authored jointly by Syria and Turkey, the London based Palestinian daily, said Al Quds Al Arabi. It said the Turkish-Syrian initiative features the following points: The joint cessation of fire by Israel and Hamas, and the immediate withdrawal of the Israeli Army from the Gaza Strip. It also calls upon both sides to reaffirm their commitment to the truce agreement that they had signed in June 2008. Besides, it advocates the formation of a special international committee to monitor the Gaza Strip’s border crossing points.
The initiative also supports the convening of an international donors conference, so that adequate funds are available for Gaza’s reconstruction. It supports Turkey’s prominent role as a mediator between Hamas and Israel in future negotiations; a role that Egypt has been performing so far.
Analysts point out that from Hamas’ perspective, the U.N. resolution 1860 passed on Thursday night does not call for an immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces. Instead, it specifies enforcement of an immediate, durable and fully respected ceasefire “leading to the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.”
Hamas also opposes the return of monitors from the European Union and the Palestinian Authority at the border crossing points. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said on Friday the U.N. resolution “doesn’t mean that the war is over”.