The Hindu : Front Page : New Delhi condemns killing of Israelis

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 08, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Front Page

Front Page

New Delhi condemns killing of Israelis

Sandeep Dikshit

But holds Israel responsible for disproportionate retaliation

NEW DELHI: India has condemned the killing of eight Israelis in Jerusalem but held Israel responsible for disproportionate retaliation to attacks allegedly by Hamas militants. Advocating dialogue to resolve all outstanding issues, India called on both sides to abjure violence.

The Foreign Office statement comes shortly after hectic activity at the United Nations Security Council in New York where a U.S.-British initiative attempted to issue a statement condemning the killings.

But their attempts were frustrated after Libya (a non-permanent UNSC member) insisted that it also incorporate a reference to the deaths of 120 civilians in the Gaza Strip.

A UNSC statement is a notch below a resolution. However, it must ideally be passed unanimously unlike a resolution which requires nine out of 15 UNSC members to vote for it provided there is no veto from the five permanent members. Diplomatic sources here said Libya’s intervention found support from some other UNSC non-permanent members.

Some of these non-permanent members have been peeved over being “persuaded” to support a UNSC resolution against Iran after the five permanent members agreed to back it. Sensing that forcing these countries, such as South Africa, Vietnam and Indonesia, to again back a west-sponsored resolution on their terms might not be successful, the sponsors decided to drop it, the sources said.

“We condemn the mindless terrorist attack on the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva in West Jerusalem last evening [Thursday evening] in which eight innocent young Israeli lives were lost and several others injured. Terrorism in any form cannot be tolerated,” a Foreign Office statement said. However, the issues confronting West Asia today are serious in nature and have to be addressed through dialogue.

The statement comes a couple of days after several civil society organisations including the All India Peace and Solidarity Organisation and the Committee for Independent Foreign Policy called upon New Delhi to snap its military and security ties with Israel.

Speaking on the occasion, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat criticised External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee for being soft on Israel’s military incursions in the Gaza Strip and the inconvenience caused by the denial of all basic facilities to them for several days. On the other hand, Israel insists that dialogue can only start if Hamas militants stop the indiscriminate firing of rockets on its territory.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page