In a Statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General - regarding the situation in the Middle East, Stéphane Dujarric said, "the Secretary-General condemns in the strongest terms this morning’s attack by Hamas against Israeli towns near the Gaza Strip and central Israel, including the firing of thousands of rockets toward Israeli population centers. The attacks have so far claimed numerous Israeli civilian lives and injured many hundreds. The Secretary-General is appalled by reports that civilians have been attacked and abducted from their own homes. The Secretary-General is deeply concerned for the civilian population and urges maximum restraint. Civilians must be respected and protected in accordance with international humanitarian law at all times. The Secretary-General extends his deepest condolences to the families of the victims and calls for the immediate release of all abducted persons. The Secretary-General urges all diplomatic efforts to avoid a wider conflagration. He stresses that violence cannot provide a solution to the conflict, and that only through negotiation leading to a two-state solution can peace be achieved."
On 7 October 2023, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, on the situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, issued a Statement saying, “I vehemently condemn this morning’s multi-front assault against Israeli towns and cities near the Gaza Strip, and barrage of rockets reaching across central Israel by Hamas militants.
I am deeply concerned for the well-being of all civilians. I am in close contact with all concerned to urge maximum restraint and call on all sides to protect civilians.This is a dangerous precipice and I appeal to all to pull back from the brink.”
The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, on the situation in the occupied West Bank issued a Statement saying, "I condemn today’s attack by Israeli settlers against Palestinians and their property in the town of Huwwara in occupied West Bank.
I'm outraged by the continued incitement, provocations, and lack of accountability for these violent crimes.
One Palestinian was shot dead during clashes between Palestinians and Israeli settlers and Israeli security forces. Israel must ensure that the civilian population is protected, and perpetrators are held to account.
I call on leaders to work now to reduce tensions, hold perpetrators accountable and stop this senseless cycle of violence.”
In a Joint statement Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury and Cottrell Stephen, Archbishop of York said, "We are grieved and deeply concerned at the violence in Israel and Gaza." This is happening in the context of 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, the Ramadan War-the fourth Arab-Israeli West Asia war in October 1973. USA supported Israel and USSR supported Arab States.Egypt and Syria had launched the surprise attack on Israel on the October 6, 1973. Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, Libya, Kuwait, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Sudan provided their forces. Lebanon did not participate in the war but it's citizens expressed solidarity with the Arab forces. This war transformed West Asia and the global energy market. Saudi Arabia gained the most. Egypt and Syria were interested in re-gaining Sinai and the Golan Heights lost during 1967 war with Israel. Post war Egypt normalised relations with Israel. Egyptian president Anwar Sadat signed a peace treaty with Israel on 26 March 1979 after the 1978 Camp David Accords. The Egypt–Israel treaty was signed by Egyptian president and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin. It was witnessed by US President, Jimmy Carter.
Reacting to the current situation, Jeremy Corbyn, the UK's noted parliamentarian said, "The unfolding events in Israel and Palestine are deeply alarming.We need an immediate ceasefire and urgent de-escalation. And we need a route out of this tragic cycle of violence: ending the occupation is the only means of achieving a just and lasting peace."
The following excerpts from the book "The Biggest Prison on Earth: A History of the Occupied Territories" by a Israeli historian provides the historical context to the goings on in Palestine and Israel:
“The conventional Israeli policy of ethnic cleansing employed successfully in 1948 against half of Palestine’s population, and against hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank in 1967, was of no use [in Gaza]. You could slowly transfer Palestinians out of the West Bank, and in particular out of the Greater Jerusalem area, but you could not do it in the Gaza Strip — once you had sealed it as a maximum security prison camp. The result was the onset of a policy of incremental genocide by Israel against the Gaza Strip. ... The militarization of the Israeli policy towards the Gaza strip began in 2005. That year Gaza became an official military target from the Israeli point of view, as if it were a huge enemy base rather than a place of civilian habitation. Gaza is a city like any other in the world, and yet for the Israelis it became a dummy city for soldiers to experiment with the most recent and advanced weapons. ... [Practices included] the senseless demolition of houses, the spraying of civilians with phosphorus shells, the killing of innocent civilians by light weaponry, and obeying orders from their commanders generally to act with no moral compass. ‘You feel like an infantile child with a magnifying glass that torments ants, you burn them’, one soldier testified. In short, they practised the total destruction of the real city as they trained in the mock city”.
In the immediate present, Israel's "Operation Swords of Iron" follows Palestinian "Operation Al-Aqsa Flood".
Daniel Carmon, ex-Israeli Ambassador to India says "Israel will take care of this challenge. It is a huge challenge because it is an unprecedented attack against Israel and we will make sure to regain control. The Israeli army, police and security forces will regain control... When this challenge is over, the people of Gaza who support Hamas will get an Israeli response which will not be similar to the previous one...Israel will meet this challenge and will prevail and will win this war, there's no doubt about it. It will not be the same kind of two or three days of fighting and then temporary arrangements that will be decided upon with the help of mediators. This time, it will be different." He termed the attack as a failure of intelligence, military and political leadership which will be examined after the current task is finished.
Meanwhile, Israel's opposition Leader Yair Lapid met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and called for the formation of an “emergency government” to manage “the difficult and complex operation ahead of us”. He apprehended that "it will become a multi-front war".
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