Hotovely: Call for Arab leadership to condemn violence

Hotovely: Call for Arab leadership to condemn violence

Israel’s ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, has expressed her concern about the ongoing violence between Jewish and Israeli-Arab mobs in the country. “Jerusalem is a city of peace and a city of co-existence,” she told BBC Hardtalk’s Stephen Sackur. “What we have seen this week is actually the result of a horrible incitement of…

Israel: ‘We try to minimise civilian casualties in Gaza’

Israel: ‘We try to minimise civilian casualties in Gaza’

Israel’s military was trying to minimise civilian casualties in Gaza, but Hamas was effectively using Palestinian civilians as human shields, the Israeli Defence Forces spokesperson has said. “Hamas, purposely embeds its military infrastructure within the civilian population creating an almost impossible situation where they are using Palestinian civilians as their human shields while they fire…

‘Israelis blame Palestinians for fighting back’

‘Israelis blame Palestinians for fighting back’

The current situation which has seen increasing violence in Gaza and Israel was entirely started by Israel, the foreign affairs adviser to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has said. It was not about telling militants to stop firing rockets, but in the beginning “stopping Israeli aggression,” Dr Nabil Shaath told BBC World News on Thursday. Weeks…

Jerusalem deputy mayor: Hamas has been looking for a war

Jerusalem deputy mayor: Hamas has been looking for a war

The Israeli-Gaza conflict can be ended if Hama stops firing rockets, Jerusalem’s deputy mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum has said. She told BBC World News on Thursday that Hamas had been looking for a war for some time: “They have been planning this for months. The Palestinian Authority are trying to distract people from cancelling an election.”…

Hamas instigated violence says American Jewish Committee

Hamas instigated violence says American Jewish Committee

Violence in the Israel-Gaza conflict was instigated by Hamas, a global Jewish advocacy group which supports Israel has said. The American Jewish Committee spokesman Avi Mayer told BBC World News: “It is Hamas that has instigated this violence weeks ago and just this past weekend called on Palestinians in Jerusalem to acquire knives and behead…

Hamas: We are working with mediators to reach a ceasefire

Hamas: We are working with mediators to reach a ceasefire

Hamas is co-operating with international mediators to achieve a ceasefire and calm, a spokesperson for the Islamist militant group which runs Gaza has said. Bassem Naeem told BBC World News: “The key is very simple, to withdraw the security forces from the al-Aqsa compound and to stop ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people from Sheikh Jarrah.”…