Cairo, 15/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - At the press conference of the EU-Egypt taskforce on 14 November, the Egyptian minister for foreign affairs, Mohamed Kamel Amr, condemned “in the strongest possible terms” the death of civilians during the Israeli raid on Gaza a few hours earlier, describing the loss of life as “totally unacceptable”. He called for an immediate cease to the attacks otherwise this will have “a negative impact on the security and peace in the region”. He said that this very serious incident has happened at a critical time for the region and that this could revive tension.
High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton declined to comment on the situation, saying that she had seen the press articles and that she was awaiting more information. On 12 November, concerned by the violence, she had called on the two parties to refrain from aggravating the situation.
The French minister for foreign affairs, Laurent Fabius, called for de-escalation and restraint. “There was rocket fire against Israel and Israel has retaliated. In the name of France I call for restraint. Israel has the right to defend itself but we get nowhere with violence…”, he said on radio RTL on 15 November (our translation). His British counterpart, William Hague, said: “I utterly condemn rocket attacks from Gaza into southern Israel by Hamas and other armed groups”, and he called for the perpetrators to cease their attacks immediately. The rocket attacks “also risk worsening the plight of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, which is already precarious”, he added. Hague also strongly urged the Israeli state to do its utmost to reduce tension.
The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, and the president of the United States, Barack Obama, called for a de-escalation of tension. Obama supported the right of Israel to defend itself and condemned the rocket attack. He deplored the loss of life and the wounded on both sides.
On 14 November, the Israelis killed the military head of Hamas, Ahmed Jabiri, and eight others in a raid. On 15 November, at least five Palestinians and three Israelis were killed. On 14 November, the Israeli army said it was ready, if necessary, to launch a ground operation in Gaza. The EU ministers of foreign affairs are due to discuss the Middle East peace process on Monday 19 November. (CG/transl.fl)