Palestinians appeal to Israel to stop "First Rain" operation

Palestinian Foreign Minister Nasser al-Qidwa on Wednesday urged the Israeli army to stop its five-day offensive in the Gaza Strip, calling it "brutal."

At a press conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Qidwa said the deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip and some areas of the West Bank must end, and Israel must stop its military campaign there.

Ordinary Gazans have been horrified in the past days especially when Israeli aircraft hovered over their heads and fired real or illusory missiles in the nighttime.

Israel launched a large-scale military operation in Gaza codenamed "First Rain" last week, in response to rocket fire by Palestinian militants on Israeli border towns from Gaza.

Israeli aircraft bombed several Gaza targets early Wednesday, knocking out electricity in Gaza City for most of the night, damaging several buildings and destroying an overpass.

Troops also fired live artillery shells into northern Gaza for the first time since its complete withdrawal from the territory on Sept. 12, hitting an open area the army said was used to fire rockets.

Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Wednesday the Israeli army will step up its strikes against Palestinian militants until rocket fire from the Gaza Strip stops.

Mofaz said Israel was trying to teach the militants that it will not tolerate any more attacks from Gaza following its recent pullout from the area.

"It needs to be clear to them that we mean every word we say," Mofaz said in an interview with Israeli TV Channel Two.

Earlier in the day, Major Gen. Yisrael Ziv warned Palestinians that if Qassam rockets are fired from the town of Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip again, the army will turn the town into a demilitarized zone.

He said he will not rule out using artillery against homes in the town in response to Qassam fire from those areas.

Against the backdrop of the escalation, a summit between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has been indefinitely postponed.

They were originally scheduled to meet on Oct. 2, which would be their first tete-a-tete meeting since Abbas succeeded late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat last November.

In a diplomatic move, Abbas paid a brief visit to Egypt to seek President Hosni Mubarak's intervention in the flare-up of violence.

Egypt has contacted the United States, the European Union and Russia for help in its efforts to persuade Israel to stop.

The United States prodded both sides to take their responsibilities to prevent a further escalation.

"On the Palestinian side, that responsibility is to act to stop any terrorism, to act to dismantle terrorist networks," US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said at a news briefing Wednesday.

"On the Israeli side, you're familiar with our message to them, and that is that they take steps to ease the daily plight of the Palestinian people as well as to, again, take into account the effect of their actions upon what all share as the ultimate goal of bringing peace and stability to the region," he said.

Abbas said he will travel to the United States and meet with US President George W. Bush in Washington on Oct. 20.

New violence erupted over the weekend as Palestinian militants intensified rocket attacks on Israel.

The Israeli side responded by intensive raids and targeted killings as well as rounding up a large number of militants in the West Bank.

The fresh tension has dealt a blow to an almost eight-month-old truce between the Palestinians and Israel, and prompted Abbas to be prepared for talks with Bush seeking to salvage the endangered Middle East peace process.

Source: Xinhua