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France pushes for Gaza truce at UN; Israel opposed
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-01-06 10:08

Israel: No Ceasefire Resolution Yet

Israel's UN Ambassador Gabriela Shalev said there was no point in the Security Council passing any ceasefire resolution while Hamas militants continued to fire rockets at Israel.

Israeli armoured personnel carriers move in a field near the border with the northern Gaza Strip January 5, 2009. [Agencies]

"The situation will be ripe for a ceasefire whenever Hamas will stop shooting the rockets and we will have guarantees that there is going to be a comprehensive package to ensure a long-term ceasefire," she told Reuters in an interview.

She said this must include an end to rocket attacks against Israel and weapons smuggling into Gaza. She also rejected the idea of a resolution treating Israel and Hamas, which does not recognize Israel's right to exist, as equal parties.

"We cannot be put on the same level as a terrorist organization -- Hamas," she said.

Shalev said Israel was aware of the difficulties facing the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza, most of whom depend on aid.

"But we must take care of the people in the southern part of Israel," she said.

Malki and Moussa said they hoped the council would pass a ceasefire resolution when it meets on Tuesday. But US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said he cautioned Arab ministers and diplomats during a closed-door meeting against "false expectations" of immediate council action.

"We want this conflict to end as quickly as possible," he told reporters. "But in order to get an enduring resolution ... practical arrangements have to be put in place in which everyone has confidence it will be maintained."

Among those, he said, should be mechanisms to prevent the rearming of Hamas through the smuggling of arms into Gaza.

British Ambassador John Sawers said there would be "a lot of intensive diplomacy over the next 48 hours." Other Western envoys said the soonest a resolution might come was Wednesday.