• Lebanon
  • July 26, 2006
  • 3 minutes read

Egeland Urges Int’l Community to Stop War In Lebanon & Gaza

The UN assistant secretary-general for humanitarian aid Jan Egeland has urged the international community Tuesday to immediately force a ceasefire and stop the Israeli aggressions on both Gaza Strip and Lebanon.


Egeland’s appeal came after a six-day-visit he made to the devastated Gaza Strip and Lebanon where he also asked for immediate provision of safe corridors to facilitate passing of relief items and assistances to the two affected places.


The man was reportedly shocked with the volume of destruction inflicted by the Israeli non-stop raids on the infrastructure in both countries and the miserable condition the people there are passing through.


Egeland, who is considered the second man in the UN after its secretary-general Kofi Annan made field visits to the destructed Palestinian areas and the devastated infrastructure projects, especially the power plant projects. He also convened with UNRWA commissioner Karin Abu Zaid and other concerned officials, including Raji Al-Sourani, director of the Palestinian center for human rights, discussing with them the humanitarian situation in the densely populated Strip.


He is supposed to have met with PA chief Mahmoud Abbas late Tuesday, and is scheduled to hold a press conference in the occupied city of Jerusalem Wednesday.


Sourani, for his part, briefed the UN officials on the inhuman and repressive Israeli policies against the Palestinian people, adding that the Israeli occupation government hasn’t only stepped over the Geneva Fourth convention only; but rather went beyond that and declared an all-out-war against the unarmed Palestinian citizens in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.


He added that Israel would have not continued its aggressions had the US administration not provided its approval for what is going on.


“The IOF troops exploited the aggression on Lebanon in intensifying their aggressions on the Gaza Strip” he said, adding that all concerned parties must decide on the nature of the world we aspire for, is it the world governed by the law or it is the other way around?.


Moreover, Sourani stressed the need to provide the Palestinian people with international protection force similar to that proposed in southern Lebanon.


“It is irrational to provide the northern borders of Israel with a powerful international force, while the unarmed Palestinian people are left without any protection”, he underlined.