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Wed 8 Nov, 2006 03:49 pm
Iran calls for emergency UN meeting on Israeli atrocities in Gaza
Tehran Times Political Desk
TEHRAN - Iran has called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting to adopt appropriate policies to support the Palestinians' rights and condemn the atrocities of the Zionist regime, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini announced on Wednesday.
At least 18 Palestinians were killed and 40 wounded by Israeli tank fire in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun on Wednesday.
"These inhumane crimes, which are a reminder of the atrocities in Qana, Lebanon, show the depth of the brutality of the Zionist regime's leaders and are strongly condemned by the world," Hosseini said in a statement.
The fact that the leaders of the Zionist regime target women and children and the United States remains mum indicates that a conspiracy to massacre the indigenous Palestinians is underway, in violation of all international treaties and laws, he added.
The indifference toward the Israeli atrocities runs contrary to the United Nations Charter's articles on genocide and crimes against humanity, the Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
Hosseini warned that the adoption of such discriminatory approaches will discredit the international body and trample the rights of member states underfoot.
Protest after 18 killed by Israeli shells
From correspondents in Tel Aviv
November 09, 2006 12:00
Article from: Agence France-PresseFont size: + -
SOME 200 people demonstrated in Tel Aviv today, after the killing of 18 Palestinians, mostly women and children, by shellfire in Gaza.
"This government has blood on its hands," read a sign carried by some of the protesters in front of the Israeli defence ministry following the attack in Gaza's northern town of Beit Hanun.
The demonstrators called for "dialogue in place of war".
Some of them called for the resignation of Defence Minister Amir Peretz, a former Peace Now activist who has presided over a bloody four month operation against militants in Gaza that has left more than 300 Palestinians dead.
Meanwhile B'Tselem, a prominent rights group in the Jewish state, called for a criminal investigation, saying today's attack - in which five women and eight children were among the dead - raised "grave concern that the action constitutes a war crime".
"Artillery fire, which is inherently inaccurate, near a densely-populated residential area makes civilian casualties very likely," it said.
"Therefore, the military's contention that they did not mean to kill civilians in Beit Hanun is disingenuous lip service," it said.
The army said it fired artillery shells on an area used by militants to launch rockets into Israel, with the shells apparently missing their target. Mr Peretz ordered an immediate investigation.
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