| Font Size |
A summit meeting in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheik concluded that the next steps will include a humanitarian summit organised by Egypt in the coming days and the search for a way to open Gaza's sealed border crossings to allow in humanitarian aid.
A unilateral Israeli ceasefire began before dawn on Sunday. Hamas also announced it would halt fighting from its side for one week while demanding that Israeli troops leave the territory.
The crucial question left unresolved was how to stop weapons smuggling across the Egyptian border to Gaza's Hamas rulers.
France, Britain, Germany and the United States have all offered help in stopping the flow of weapons, but Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has firmly rejected any deployment of international monitoring forces on its side of the Gaza border.
"We have pledged to help Israel and Egypt with all the technical, military, naval and diplomatic ways to help end the smuggling of weapons into Gaza," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said at a news conference after the summit.
Preventing Hamas from rearming is a key demand of Israel in any lasting deal. It launched its offensive on December 27 with the argument that Hamas had used a six-month truce earlier in the year to restock its arsenal. That truce unravelled as Hamas intensified its rocket fire into southern Israel.
While, acknowledging the difficult task ahead, Sarkozy said now was the time to speed efforts toward the ultimate goal of West Asia peacemaking: the creation of a Palestinian state.
"In our minds, this is the beginning of our journey," he said. "We should continue and we should accelerate our efforts in order to achieve a settlement based on the creation of two states, a Palestinian state living side-by-side with an Israeli state that has the right to its security."
Discuss this story on expressindia forums
|
|
"Think not of those who are slain in Allah's way as dead. Nay, they live, finding their sustenance in the presence of their Lord; They rejoice in the bounty provided by Allah. And with regard to those left behind, who have not yet joined them (in their bliss), the (martyrs) glory in the fact that on them is no fear, nor have they (cause to) grieve. Qur'an, 2:214Martyrs are Not DeadWe (i.e. Ibn Masud) asked Abdullah (Prophet, pbuh) about this verse: "Think not of those who are slain in Allah's way as dead. Nay, they live, finding their sustenance in the presence of their Lord;" Qur'an, 003.169 (Aal-E-Imran [The Family of Imran])
Arvind is incorrect in his assessment of Israels offensive. This was truly a defensive offense. the only choices avaibale to them were attack or keep getting killed like we do in India and let our leader say "Hamein Dekhna Hain, Ham Dekh Rahein Hain aur Ham dekhte rahenge"
All those Israel supporters should know that Israel has failed in achieving the goals and whatever it has been saying so before and after going into war with Hamas. Hamas has gain more popularity among the Arabs and has not been disarmed inspite of heavy losses of man and weaponary. Its rocket strike after Israel unilaterial ceasfire is the evidence that the will of Hamas is prevailing to defend themselves at whatever costs. In coming days, Hamas will take the chrage of West Bank and will strengthen its arms power. Israel is not invincible, it has again been proved and if Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan (emerged as the traitor of Gazans) take stern action against Israel and launch a strike, Israel will be nowhere and it will be suffocated. These Wahabi rulers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan who are intolerative of other religions, should apologise from all Palestinians for not doing anything for them and supported the organizations such as Al-Qaida, Let, Jaish, JuD, HuJI etc.
Mr Hasan Abidi aka Mr Mullah Omar. Please get your facts right: 1st All arab states tried to destroy Israel several times since 1948 but were unsuccesful. All their attacks were unprovoked against a hapless people just come out of an holocaust. Initially Israel and Palestine were two states and Gaza was only occupied after unprovoked attacks from Arabs. Even now there are unprovoked attacks into Israel and as such it is the Palestinians who are to blame for their fate. Stop being a bigot and see reason. Your Palestinian friends are as much bigot as u r and hence their plight
Gentlemen , If you need peace in the west Asia you must reduce your dependence on the Dollar.Start trading in Euro .so you need not earn dollar from the US to buy thing for your country . the less Dollar you use the more you will be free from the US. otherwise you will not have peace for this region at all . the Ideal situation is UN should issue a currency for all international trading for a real free ecomony which will set right things
Israel has done the right thing and hopefully got rid of the terrorist hamas once and for all. Well done Israel.
ARVIND IS 100% correct and I completely agree with him. In case of MANGESH view I advise him to take his whole family to GAZA and let the Israel to attack on his house and sufeer the same then his views also change I hope.
Israel did the right thing by invading Gaza. The Hamas brook no sympathy and needed to be firmly dealt with. Even when the invasion was going on, the Hamas thugs hid themselves by mixing with civilian population. This resulted in the deaths of civilians. If the Hamas 'fighters' or 'holy warriors' are truly valourous, they should have poured on to the streets and fought Israeli military, head on. In the opinion of world, the Hamas is a bunch of cowards that caused misery to the Palestinians. Most importantly, the Hamas, as the head of the state of Gaza, cannot organise basic supplies for its own populace, by negotiating peacefully with Israel.I also wonder what 'proportionate' force is - People are saying that Israeli actions are disproportionate. A mouse enters a lion's den, not expecting the lion to chant Vedas - but to pounce forcefully on it. Similarly, the Hamas fighters need to understand upfront, while launching Qassam rockets that they would meet with such force.
Arvind go live in Israel. Get hit by 150 rockets a day. Face some crazy fundamentalist suicide bombers and then you might change your tune. Israel also has been paramount in training India NSG commandos provided AWACS type air-crafts, provide missles akin to Patriot. Sorry no dice as far as me believing Israel is right
Mangesh, I guess it should be other way round.. why don'y you go and live in the occupied territory. See the difficulties all palestenians face in every day life. They donlt have clean water, food, education, jobs, money. Israilies create a wall right in the middle of the city. There are police raids every other day when your brothers and sisters are either away or killed. Go and live in the open prison of gaza and then ask yourself who is right or wrong. Come on, for once come out of your cimmunal idealogy and think rationally!
ISREAL HAS CHOSEN THE WRONG WAY OF MILITARY OFFENSIVE. IT HAS TAKEN HUGE TOLL AND MANY INNOCENT CIVILIANS ARE AFFECTED IN GAZA. BOTH PARTIES CAN SOLVE ALL THE DIFFERENCES THROUGH PEACEFUL NEGOTIATIONS AND THERE CAN BE LASTING PEACE. SINCERITY AND COMMITMENT FROM BOTH THE SIDES IS REQUIRED WITH INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY CREATING CONDUCIVE ATMOSPHRE FOR THE DISCUSIION. BOTH SIDES SHOULD RESPECT THE CEASEFIRE AND HUMANITARIAN AID HAS TO BE HASTENED TO THE WAR AFFECTED AREA.