Khaleej Times Online >> News >> REGION
Hamas holds victory rallies as UN chief tours Gaza
(AP)
20 January 2009
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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - The U.N. chief inspected the devastation wrought by
Israel’s onslaught in Gaza on Tuesday, leading a moment of silence at the
smoldering U.N. headquarters, as the territory’s militant Hamas rulers,
triumphant at having survived, held victory rallies amid the ruins.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, appearing stern and saddened at a ceremony at
the burned out U.N. headquarters in Gaza, demanded an Israeli investigation
into strikes on United Nations facilities. Ban asked the crowd to honor victims
of the offensive, who included nearly 40 Palestinians who had sought refuge at
a U.N. school shelled by Israel.
“It has been especially troubling and heartbreaking for me as secretary-general
that I couldn’t end this faster,” he said. He warned the truce is fragile, and
called on Israel and Hamas to “exercise maximum restraint and nurture the
cease-fire.”
Thousands of Hamas supporters thronged a square outside the remains of the
parliament building in Gaza City, which was heavily damaged in an Israeli
airstrike at the outset of the war. Two men hoisted a sign in carefully
scripted Hebrew reading, “The resistance will be victorious, Israel has been
defeated.”
Israel and Hamas both ceased fire on Sunday, after an offensive that claimed
the lives of some 1,300 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, and
13 Israelis. The last of Israel’s ground troops were expected to pull out of
Gaza on Tuesday if the quiet holds, defense officials said.
Israel mounted the air and ground campaign against Hamas on Dec. 27 in an
effort to force Gaza militants to halt years of rocket fire on southern Israel
and to cripple arms-smuggling operations. The fighting stopped before Israel
achieved those aims, though the Egyptian-brokered truce hopes to address the
issues of arms smuggling and reopening Gaza’s blockaded border crossings in its
next stage.
The U.N. chief personally intervened during the war to try to stop the
violence, and said over the weekend that he was sending a team to assess the
humanitarian needs so the United Nations could issue an emergency appeal for
funds.
Calling the crisis a “collective political failure,” Ban said he would share
the findings of his trip to Gaza with world leaders, including incoming
President Barack Obama.
The first estimates by independent surveyors said Gaza lost nearly $2 billion
in assets, including 4,100 homes, about 1,500 factories and workshops, 20
mosques, 31 security compounds, and 10 water or sewage lines. Shattered glass
and mounds of rubble littered city streets.
Ban called the attacks on the U.N. headquarters and two of its schools
“outrageous” and demanded a full investigation through proper judiciary
systems. He also demanded guarantees it would never happen again.
Israel has said militants used the U.N. buildings as cover to launch attacks,
but the military has launched its own investigation.
Homeowners digging through the debris in Gaza City, the territory’s largest
city, carried off vases, refrigerators, dishes and baby beds, some loading
their goods into cars and trucks. Utility crews began planning repairs to
electrical and sewage and water systems. A senior technician, Mofid Awad, said
80 percent of the electricity grid in Gaza City was damaged.
Before setting off for Gaza, Ban met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert,
who told him Hamas could not be allowed to lead the reconstruction process in
Gaza and thereby gain some measure of legitimacy, Olmert’s office said in a
statement.
The U.N. and international organizations must lead the reconstruction in
conjunction with the Palestinian Authority and Egypt, which has been mediating
between Israel and Hamas, Olmert said.
Ban said his discussions with Olmert focused on withdrawing all Israeli troops
from Gaza and how to open Gaza’s border crossings.
Ban is the most senior international official to visit Gaza since Hamas
militants seized power in June 2007. The Hamas government is not
internationally recognized, and Ban was not scheduled to meet with the group,
which is regarded by Western powers and Israel as a terrorist organization.
After visiting Gaza, Ban was heading to the rocket-scarred Israeli town of
Sderot. A false alarm of an incoming rocket in southern Israel earlier in the
day set off fears that the shaky truce hadn’t even lasted two full days. The
military reported that a mortar was fired later, but apparently fell short of
Israeli territory.
Palestinians and human rights workers reported that Israeli troops have shot to
death two Gaza farmers since the truce took hold, including a 20-year-old man
killed in northern Gaza on Tuesday. The military had no comment on that report.
As Ban marshaled a global response to the suffering in Gaza, Hamas was busy
planning nine victory rallies across Gaza.
Although Israel scored a decisive battleground victory, Hamas claims its own
victory because it managed to withstand the intense Israeli assault and fired
hundreds of rockets into the Jewish state throughout the fighting.
In a sign the militant group remained in control in Gaza, Hamas security teams
in uniforms patrolled Gaza City.
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Jusfiq Hadjar gelar Sutan Maradjo Lelo
Allah yang disembah orang Islam tipikal dan yang digambarkan oleh al-Mushaf itu
dungu, buas, kejam, keji, ganas, zalim lagi biadab hanyalah Allah fiktif.
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