Foreign Minister Stubb calls for immediate Gaza ceasefire
Widespread international condemnation of Israeli ground assault as EU delegation prepares to meet with warring factions
Writing in his blog on Sunday evening, Finland's Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Stubb (National Coalition Party) commented on the worsening civilian situation in Gaza after Israel launched a ground offensive to cut the Gaza Strip in half south of Gaza City.
Helsingin Sanomat was unable to contact the minister in person, as he was travelling and in an aircraft.
"A ceasefire has to be put in place immediately. The rocket attacks from Gaza into Southern Israel must stop, but Israel, too, must end its military operation, which is worsening the plight of the civilian population in Gaza still further", wrote Stubb.
The Foreign Minister does not believe there can be a military solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
He argues that the solution must be a durable one and must guarantee the security of Israel and the existence of a viable Palestininan state.
Stubb regrets that diplomatic moves have brought us no nearer an agreement than before, and he urges that active efforts to bring about a ceasefire and to allow the provision of humanitarian aid to the stricken civilian population of Gaza be redoubled in the future.
Diplomatic pressure on Israel grew stronger around the world on Sunday evening.
The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon talked over the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Ban is said to have expressed to the Israeli leadership his extreme concern and disappointment.
He ordered Israel to guarantee the safety of civilians and the access to the area of humanitarian aid shipments.
The European Union promised EUR 3 million in emergency humanitarian aid to Gaza at the weekend.
"It is absolutely necessary that the violence on both sides must be stopped", said EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner in Prague on Sunday, in order to be able to get food and essential medical supplies into the region to ensure hospitals are able to function.
Ferrero-Waldner will be part of a high-level EU delegation featuring the Union's foreign policy supremo Xavier Solana and representatives from France, the Czech Republic and Sweden (the former, present, and next holders of the European Council Presidency), who are to meet with Israeli and Palestinian representatives early this week.
Also active in a separate move will be French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
He is to criss-cross the Middle East in the next few days, holding meetings in Cairo as well as in Jerusalem, the Palestinian West Bank town of Ramallah, and the Syrian capital Damascus.
The United States is also calling for restraint and a speedy ceasefire, but on the condition that the Hamas rocket attacks on Israel are brought to a permanent end.
Late on Saturday night, the UN Security Council failed to reach agreement on a statement calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
After nearly four hours of closed-door discussions, members of the council emerged without reaching agreement that would have asked Israel and Hamas to end the more than a week of fighting that has so far claimed the lives of around 500 Palestinians.
The meeting was the Security Council's third attempt to find accord since the conflict erupted on December 27th.
Despite a measure of convergence, the latest draft was seen by British and American diplomats as too partial, since it called for a full and immediate ceasefire without direct mention of the ongoing Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli territory that Israel has said prompted its recent retaliatory offensive.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 5.1.2009 - TODAY |
 Foreign Minister Stubb calls for immediate Gaza ceasefire |
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