“I am deeply concerned by the dramatic escalation of the conflict in and around Gaza and the high number of rockets fired towards Tel Aviv,” Norway’s Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide said on Tuesday.
“We condemn all attacks on civilians. I strongly urge all parties to take action to deescalate the situation before more civilian lives are lost. Israel has the right to self-defense, but I stress the demand for proportionality.
“Norway continues the work in the UN Security Council to convene a new meeting urgently,” Eriksen Søreide noted.
No agreement on Israel and Palestine in the Security Council
On Wednesday, the UN Security Council did not manage to reach an agreement on a statement on Israel and Palestine. Norway and European countries expressed great concern about the situation. A statement from Norway, Estonia, France, Ireland, and the United Kingdom stated that the large number of civilian deaths was alarming.
“Israel has a right to defend itself, but must take responsibility for not affecting the civilian population,” Norway and the other countries stated.
“Leaders on all sides should show responsibility and do everything to calm the situation,” it was said.
The UN’s special coordinator for the peace process, Norwegian diplomat Tor Wennesland, warned against a full-scale war.
“There is a risk of a spiral of violence,” Wennesland said.
According to diplomats, the United States blocked an agreement in Wednesday’s crisis meeting in the Security Council. The United States also halted a Norwegian proposal in the Security Council on Monday for a statement on the conflict.
Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews
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Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Christians and Palestinians began with its inception.
If the West – our financial industry and media largely if not increasingly controlled by pro-Israel interests – is just going to allow this happen … Norway being a laudably unquiet exception … the least Israel can do is make sure those who are dispossessed are moved to better lives, and Israel’s cutting edge desalination technology could make the Mideast green instead of baked brown.
I suggested this in person to Yoram Dinstein, a foremost Israeli proponent of self-defense through pro-active military operations, at the 10-12 October 2017 Forsvars/Defence seminar about the (il-, I maintained) legality of Norway’s involvement in the Syrian war.
I had raised the question during Qs&As with him whether Israel was throwing its very Right to Exist into question with such war crimes as murdering those kids – cousins – playing on that Gaza beach.
For one instead creative solution, what if – with Egypt’s agreement – the Gaza was just moved down the northern Sinai coast and the relocated community was so-supported?
Christian lands around Bethlehem and Nazareth should be returned, though, and all holy sites respected.