Region | Palestinian Territories
Qatar seeks UN resolution to end siege
Acting on behalf of Arab nations, Qatar circulated a draft UN Security Council resolution on Thursday, demanding that Israel end its offensive in the Gaza Strip and release the Palestinian officials it has arrested.
- Agencies
- Published: 00:00 July 7, 2006
United Nations/Beit Lahiya, Gaza: Acting on behalf of Arab nations, Qatar circulated a draft UN Security Council resolution on Thursday, demanding that Israel end its offensive in the Gaza Strip and release the Palestinian officials it has arrested.
The draft faced immediate opposition from the United States and France, which called it unbalanced in its criticism of Israel.
France's ambassador said he would offer changes, but US Ambassador John Bolton suggested that Washington would oppose the resolution entirely.
That raised the possibility that the United States, as a permanent member of the Security Council, would veto the resolution.
But in Gaza, deaths are mounting. Israeli air strikes have killed eight Palestinians, including civilians, in northern Gaza, said medical sources.
The violence comes as Israeli tanks move further into Palestinian territory.
The last time Palestinian teenager Mohammad Ayub saw Israeli tanks rumbling by, he cheered. This time, he saw no reason to celebrate.
The tanks were back in the 17-year-old's village yesterday, 10 months after moving out of the Gaza Strip in a withdrawal of troops and colonists that ended 38 years of occupation. The return left residents angry and bitter.
"We cheered when they left last year and we went to pray on our land, but here they are again," Ayub said.
Tanks and troops pushed into several former Jewish colonies and the nearby town of Beit Lahiya on Thursday, widening an offensive that began after the kidnapping nearly two weeks ago of an Israeli soldier by Gaza militants.
Israeli leaders said the latest assault, in the northern Gaza Strip, had two aims securing the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit and the end of rocket attacks on Ashkelon, an Israeli city 15km from the frontier.
"They pull out and we think everything will be quiet and good, and now they are back," said Abu Aish Abu Nasr, a 60-year-old grandfather as he watched events unfold from his house in Beit Lahiya and listened to reports on a small radio.
"It's like nothing changed. They think they can do what they want. But they have to leave, this is our land."
Israeli leaders insisted that was exactly what the military, which ran into fierce resistance from gunmen in and around Beit Lahiya, would do once it completed its mission.
For small boys on the streets, the fighting was almost a game as they toyed with a tank stationed on a street, running from side to side as its barrel shifted direction.
"Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest)," they shouted after a bomb planted by militants exploded near another tank on a rise overlooking the former colonies, which Israel reduced to rubble during last year's pullout.
The boys dived for cover as heavy return fire crackled from Israeli machineguns and from helicopters overhead.
Some villagers chose to stay indoors as Israeli troops moved through the streets. Others bolted, seeking cover in thick bushes.
"They are controlling the whole area, people are scared," said Mohammad Sakar, 25, who fled a house on the ridge, running through the undergrowth with his head down to evade the tanks.
"I thought they would never come back, but here they are," he said of the troops.
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