Arab League: Israeli crimes call for international probe
OCCUPATION FORCES TARGET HAMAS BASE AS DEATH TOLL DRAWS GLOBAL CONDEMNATION
The Arab League called yesterday for an international probe into alleged crimes by Israeli occupation forces against Palestinians following mass protests on the Gaza border that saw dozens of demonstrators killed.
Tens of thousands of people have protested along Gaza’s border with Israel since March 30 calling for Palestinian refugees to be able to return to their homes in occupied areas.
The largest demonstrations coincided with the move of the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem last Monday, which saw Israeli forces kill some 60 Palestinians.
“We call for a credible international investigation into the crimes committed by the occupation,” Arab League chief Ahmad Abu Al Gaith said at an extraordinary meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo yesterday to discuss the violence.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will today host an emergency summit in Istanbul of the world’s main panIslamic body, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which he said would send a “strong message to the world”.
Erdogan, who also announced plans for a pro-Palestinian rally, has exchanged bitter accusations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling Israel an “apartheid state” and ordering the country’s ambassador to Turkey to leave.
Weeks of protests and clashes along the border appeared to abate with the start of Ramadan, but the death toll has led to international condemnation of Israel and calls for an independent investigation.
“We are facing a state of blatant aggression against international law and legitimacy, which was embodied by the US embassy’s transfer in the occupying state to Jerusalem,” Al Gaith said.
Israel has rejected those demands, saying its actions are necessary to stop mass infiltrations from the blockaded Palestinian enclave controlled by Islamist movement Hamas.
On Wednesday, Israeli officials seized upon remarks by a senior Hamas member who said 50 of the 62 Palestinians killed this week were members of the group, arguing it showed the protests were not peaceful.
But the Hamas official, Salah Bardawil, did not give further details about whether they were members of the group’s armed or political wing, or what they were doing at the time they were killed.
Today will be a key test of whether the current round of unrest will continue as protests usually peak on Fridays.
The demonstrations were meant to end on May 15, but Hamas officials have said they want them to continue.
Israeli occupation forces have killed 116 Palestinians since the protests began, with one Israeli soldier reported wounded. Israel hit a Hamas base in an air raid yesterday, saying gunfire emanating from Gaza had targeted occupation forces and damaged a house. No one was reported hurt on either side.
Palestinian security sources said the target was a Hamas base.
Hamas in a statement yesterday signalled it could resort to its weapons in response to this week’s violence, but many analysts see that as unlikely for now.
The Arab foreign ministers’ meeting in Cairo came after Egyptian President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi on Wednesday said his government was communicating with both sides “so that this bloodshed would stop”.
Israel has rejected criticism over Monday’s violence, with the United States strongly backing its ally and blaming Hamas for the deaths.
Calls for an independent probe into the deaths have come from many sides, including Britain, Germany, Canada and Switzerland. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the European Union have also called for an independent investigation.
Palestinians and rights groups say protesters are being shot despite posing no threat to Israeli soldiers on the other side of the heavily guarded fence.