On Monday, the Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher called the Israeli government “a gang of assassins”. Maher said that no civilized country could accept the behavior of the government of Israel as it continues to carry out “assassinations” in violation of international law. Israel’s policies will drag the entire region into war, he said.
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Anan called upon Israel to refrain from its current policy of preemptive offensives against terrorist targets. He called on both sides involved to abandon the violence and return to dialogue in order to achieve a political solution. Anan provided no indication of how an end to the violence was to be achieved, although the Group of Eight Industrialized Nations has called for international observers to be stationed in Israel.
Although holding a positive view of the Secretary-General’s call to return to the negotiating table, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres was less than enthusiastic about the possibility of international observers in Israel. The Foreign Minister told the Russian emissary to the Middle East on Monday that the deployment of international observers in the region would not provide the solution to the ongoing warfare. He explained that since the observers would not have access to Hamas bomb facilities where explosives for attacks are prepared and suicide bombers set out for attacks, they would only be able to report on attacks after they occur and not prevent them.
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Anan called upon Israel to refrain from its current policy of preemptive offensives against terrorist targets. He called on both sides involved to abandon the violence and return to dialogue in order to achieve a political solution. Anan provided no indication of how an end to the violence was to be achieved, although the Group of Eight Industrialized Nations has called for international observers to be stationed in Israel.
Although holding a positive view of the Secretary-General’s call to return to the negotiating table, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres was less than enthusiastic about the possibility of international observers in Israel. The Foreign Minister told the Russian emissary to the Middle East on Monday that the deployment of international observers in the region would not provide the solution to the ongoing warfare. He explained that since the observers would not have access to Hamas bomb facilities where explosives for attacks are prepared and suicide bombers set out for attacks, they would only be able to report on attacks after they occur and not prevent them.