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Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Did the UN call on PalArabs to stop Qassams?

YNet reports:
The UN Security Council issued a statement Wednesday, calling the Palestinians to cease Qassam fire at Israel.

Unlike previous statements made by the council, calling on both Israel and the Palestinians to cease fire, Wednesday's statement did not call for a bilateral ceasefire, but rather for curbing of clashes in Gaza and the firing of rockets at Israel. (Yitzhak Benhorin, Washington)
This would certainly be interesting. It is unimaginable for the UN to scold Arabs for aggression against Israel without saying that Israel is doing something at least as bad.

Ma'an Arabic, probably copying YNet, wrote what appears to be an identical story.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be true.
SECURITY COUNCIL PRESS STATEMENT ON BREAKDOWN OF CEASEFIRE IN GAZA STRIP

The following Security Council press statement on the breakdown of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip was delivered today by Council President Zalmay Khalilzad ( United States):

The members of the Security Council expressed their grave concern at the breakdown of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the resulting increase in violence. The members welcomed the efforts of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to establish a ceasefire, and expressed appreciation for the active support of the Government of Egypt in this regard. They urged all parties to join the members of the Council in supporting the call of President Abbas for an immediate end to the violence.
This refers strictly to an end to PalArab internal violence, and not a word about violence against Israel.

So the next question is - what is stopping the UN from such a call to Palestinian Arabs to stop Qassam attacks on civilian targets, a gross violation of international law in anybody's book?

Do we even have to ask?

UPDATE: It seems that YNet got confused with a statement that the Quartet made yesterday:
The Quartet strongly condemned the continued firing of Qassam rockets into Southern Israel as well as the buildup of arms by Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza. It endorsed PA President Abbas’ call for an immediate end to such violence, and called upon all elements of the PA government and all Palestinian groups to cooperate with President Abbas to that end. The Quartet called for the immediate and unconditional release of Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit. The Quartet urged Israel to exercise restraint to ensure that its security operations avoid civilian casualties or damage to civilian infrastructure. It noted that the detention of elected members of the Palestinian government and legislature raises particular concerns and called for them to be released.
While the UN is a member of the quartet, this statement was not made by the UN.