Tuesday
Jan222008
UN Briefing on Gaza 22.1.08
The standoff in Gaza continues. Israel expressed that it has no choice but to continue the blockade of Gaza due to rocket threat from Hamas-controlled region. Israel did previously refute claims that it was the source of the humanitarian crisis, and attempted to shift the blame to Hamas. Israel announced later that it would allow small small amounts of necessities - including food and fuel - to cross into Gaza.
Spokesperson for the Secretary General Michele Montas read statements by United Nations Undersecretary for Political Affairs B. Lynn Pascoe, who expressed deep concern for the "deeply fragile humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip." Pascoe criticized Israel for the blockade, but at the same time acknowledged security concerns.
The Spokesperson for the Secretary General indicated that all sides have requested meetings with the Secretary General, but thus far none have taken place due toscheduling conflicts.
The United Nations expressed that this supposed to be a year of "hope and optimism," and is concerned that the events in Gaza will undermine Annapolis.
The World Health Organization is worried about repercussions about access to medicine, electricity and other necessities.
United States Secretary of State expressed doubt to Israel that the blockade would deter further rocket strikes.
- Dan Patterson
Listen
Spokesperson for the Secretary General Michele Montas read statements by United Nations Undersecretary for Political Affairs B. Lynn Pascoe, who expressed deep concern for the "deeply fragile humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip." Pascoe criticized Israel for the blockade, but at the same time acknowledged security concerns.
The Spokesperson for the Secretary General indicated that all sides have requested meetings with the Secretary General, but thus far none have taken place due toscheduling conflicts.
The United Nations expressed that this supposed to be a year of "hope and optimism," and is concerned that the events in Gaza will undermine Annapolis.
The World Health Organization is worried about repercussions about access to medicine, electricity and other necessities.
United States Secretary of State expressed doubt to Israel that the blockade would deter further rocket strikes.
- Dan Patterson
Listen
in 
Audio
Audio
Reader Comments (4)
how many israelis were killed in the last couple of weeks as a result of mortar attacks or from those primitive qassam missiles which israel claims pose such a perilous security threat? not a single person. how many palestinians in gaza have been killed as a result of israeli assaults since the new year? DOZENS. mothers, fathers, children, young and old, israel does not discriminate in this regard. mild criticisms of israel by un officials will not alleviate the suffering of the palestinians who are starving while the sick die from the lack of medicine. meanwhile the egyptians--at the behest of israel and the united states--are brutally attacking their gazan neighbors who attempt to gain access to food and medicine through the rafah crossing in the south. when you deprive a whole people of their dignity and perpetrate massacres against them, please don't act surprised when they resist. no clown of a president, democrat or republican, will come close to standing up to israel by forcing them to accept a just compromise. stop talking about annapolis as if it equates to the treaty of versailles. for those out there who hold faith in your elected leaders to fight for what's right in the middle east, please reassess the situation
I was just trying to find some facts on this and the first google search was a report of a Hamas rocket attack targeting an Israeli High School July 5, 2006.
Since Jan. 15, 08 there have been 150 rocket attacks injuring 11 Israelis. The rockets must be pretty shabby.
I think the Arab world should consider accepting the fact that the Jews are not leaving Israel and learn to live with them. The real problem is that if the Palestinian problem is solved then the Arab world will loose its scapegoat and will be forced to clean up their own back yards.
rambo,
hamas can not "target" anything within israel with any degree of accuracy. hamas does not "target" high schools. the rockets serve more of a symbolic significance than anything else, hamas knows that they can not defeat their aggressive neighbor with those horribly obsolete and inferior weapons. and you bring up something else that is very important. you talk about the "arab world" as if there exists some inherent anti-jewish sentiment among arabs. before israel, jews lived all across the arab lands in harmony with muslims and christians. the problem is not religious. the creation of israel ignited a kind of sectarian feud and religious intolerance which was (and still is) maliciously propagated by israel. to be fair, the arab governments do their fair share of this too, but dont forget that these are the same lousy arab regimes that are propped up by the US and supported by israel as well (ie egypt, jordan, saudia arabia, etc...). it sounds so naive for you to say that arabs just need to "learn to live with" jews when they have already been doing so for centuries. lets not forget either the flurry of racists laws within israel that exclude arab israeli citizens from many fundamental rights which are granted to jewish israelis. please dont take this post as an attack on you, rambo. i support discussion on this issue because the only way we can come to pragmatic solutions for tense conflict is through educating ourselves and each other. no justice, no peace.
Israel is a teeny tiny speck of land within a vast sea of Arab/Muslim territory. If you look at a map of the area it's hard to even see Israel. It's population is just over 7 million, 5 million are Jews. I think the Arab population that surrounds them is about 250 million.
Why do you think the vast population that occupies the middle east and north Africa will not simply leave the Jews alone and let them live in peace in their tiny piece of dirt?