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The Palestinian Authority has called on international bodies and the Arab League summit in Libya to protect East Jerusalem al-Quds against Israeli settlement activities.

Acting PA Chief Mahmoud Abbas, speaking at the opening of a two-day Arab League summit in the Libyan city of Sirte, called on international bodies and Arab states to force Israel to stop settlement activities in East al-Quds.

Palestinian movement Hamas also issued a statement calling on the Arab leaders to unite and take a “decisive stand and implement a real and serious program to protect Jerusalem (al-Quds) from Israeli aggression.”

Arab leaders have warned on the first day of the summit that the Middle East peace process is bound to fail unless Israel stops settlement activities in East al-Quds, which Palestinians consider as the capital of the future Palestinian state.

“We cannot resume indirect negotiations as long as Israel maintains its settlement policy and the status quo,” Abbas said, calling for a “complete halt to all Israeli practices.”

His remarks come as Israel has recently announced plans to build additional 1,600 settlement units in East al-Quds despite international condemnations.

Abbas said Israel was trying to alter the identity of al-Quds with “ethnic cleansing on a daily basis” and warned that such practices would lead to “wars in the region.”

“And there won’t be any (peace) agreement that does not guarantee an end to the occupation, starting with Jerusalem (Al-Quds), because there is no sense in having a Palestinian state that does not have Jerusalem as its capital.”

In a statement, Hamas called for an end to a blockade of the Gaza Strip and the reopening of Egypt’s common border with the coastal enclave.

“I hope you take decisive action to lift the siege on the Gaza Strip and open the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and our Egyptian brothers,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, thousands of Palestinians gathered in central Gaza and near the Rafah crossing, calling on leaders at the Arab League summit to take serious action against Israel.

The protesters urged Arab states to cut diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv over its policy of settlement expansion on occupied Palestinian land.

AKM/MB

Story Via :- Press TV

Israeli forces killed hundreds of unarmed Palestinian civilians and destroyed thousands of homes in Gaza in attacks which breached the laws of war, Amnesty International concluded in a new report published on Thursday. Operation ‘Cast Lead’: 22 days of death and destruction, is the first comprehensive report to be published on the conflict, which took place earlier this year.

“Israel’s failure to properly investigate its forces’ conduct in Gaza, including war crimes, and its continuing refusal to cooperate with the UN international independent fact-finding mission headed by Richard Goldstone, is evidence of its intention to avoid public scrutiny and accountability,” said Donatella Rovera, who headed a field research mission to Gaza and southern Israel during and after the conflict.

“The international community, led by the UN Security Council, must use all its leverage to ensure that Israel cooperates fully with the Goldstone inquiry, which now offers the best means to establish the truth.”

Impunity for war crimes in Gaza and southern Israel a recipe for further civilian suffering | Amnesty International.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter,(center) gestures as he speaks to the media at the ruins of the American International School, which was destroyed during Israel's offensive in Gaza earlier this year, in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip

GAZA CITY (AFP) – Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter on Tuesday met Hamas leader Ismail Haniya in the Gaza Strip, where he called for a lifting of Israel’s merciless blockade, saying Palestinians are being treated “like animals.”

Following the talks, Carter called for an end of “all violence” against the Palestinians.

tehran times : Carter: Palestinians treated ‘like animals’.

“]Pope Benedict XVI called for Israelis and Palestinians to live peacefully in the Middle East during a welcoming ceremony at the Israeli president’s residence in Jerusalem.

“I pray daily for peace born of justice to return to the Holy Land and the entire region, bringing security and renewed hope for all,” he said on Monday.

Benedict emphasised that justice and security were inseparable concepts according to “God’s design for the world”.

“Jerusalem … is a city which affords Jews, Christians and Muslims both the duty and the privilege to bear witness together to the peaceful coexistence long desired by worshippers of the one God,” he said.

Afterwards, he moved on to Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.

Al Jazeera English – Middle East – Pope appeals for Middle East peace.

Hamas Leader Khaled Meshal (Mumtaz al-Baloua / New York Times)

The Palestinian group Hamas has announced a cessation in rocket fire into Israel this week as Khaled Meshal, the political leader of Hamas, in exile in Syria, repeated that Hamas is seeking an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel along the pre-1967 border.

In June 1967, Israel invaded and occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip, where Palestinians now seek to establish their own state. The illegal Israeli occupation continues to hamper their aspirations for democracy and statehood, however.

Israel withdrew forces from Gaza in 2005 and dismantled settlements there, only to place the densely populated territory under siege. On December 27 last year, Israel launched a major military operation against Gaza, dubbed “Operation Cast Lead”, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,300 Palestinians, nearly a third of whom were children.

Israel’s operation has drawn heavy criticism from human rights groups, including for indiscriminate attacks against a civilian population, the use of white phosphorus as a weapon, and targeting protected sites such as schools and hospitals.

In June of last year, Israel and Hamas agreed to a cease-fire, but Israel never honored the truce. During the first week of the truce, Israeli forces fired upon civilians in Gaza. Israel also never lifted the siege, another condition of the cease-fire. On November 4, Israel launched an air attack and ground incursion into Gaza, effectively ending the cease-fire as violence escalated in the weeks that followed. Read more…