:icon_sadangel2: Palestine Peace a dream?

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Clinton concern over demolitions

Clinton concern over demolitions

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem are of "deep concern".

She renewed her commitment to an Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement, saying it was a "commitment I carry in my heart, not just my portfolio".

She was speaking after meeting Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank.

It is Mrs Clinton's her first trip to the region as secretary of state.

In Jerusalem and Tel Aviv on Tuesday, Mrs Clinton expressed "unshakeable" support for Israel, but restated the Obama administration's commitment to the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

She will not meet leaders of the rival Palestinian group Hamas, which has dismissed her visit.

Observers say they are watching for signs that Washington is determined to make advances on the - until now intractable - problem of securing a peace settlement in the Middle East.

'Unhelpful'

Mrs Clinton said the "unhelpful" planned demolition of homes in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem would be "taken up" with Israel's government.

Palestinian laborers work at a construction site in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim near Jerusalem on 2 March
Israeli settlement-building continues apace
Dozens of houses - which Israel says were illegally constructed, but which Palestinians say Israel refuses to permit them to build - are due to be torn down in Silwan to make way for a park. The demolition orders have been vociferously condemned by Palestinian leaders.

They were among the topics discussed by Mrs Clinton and Mr Abbas during their talks, which also included the situation in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip and moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Mrs Clinton said she was "proud" to stand by President Abbas, and to "deliver a message from our country: the United States supports the Palestinian Authority as the only legitimate government of the Palestinian people".

The US has refused to speak to Hamas, which leads the Gaza Strip, saying it is a terrorist organisation.

Earlier, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum dismissed Mrs Clinton's visit, saying her statements so far had been "totally biased in favour of the Zionist occupation and do not reflect any change in American foreign policy", AP news agency reported.

'Time is ripe'

Mrs Clinton said the US aimed to foster conditions in which a Palestinian state could be fully realised, adding that "time is of the essence".

On the plight of residents of Gaza, recently hit by a 22-day Israeli bombardment, she pledged a commitment to reconstruction, saying a "child growing up in Gaza... has the same right to go to school, see a doctor, and live with a roof over her head as a child in any country".

On peace negotiations, Mr Abbas said he believed "the time is ripe to put final-status issues" - issues including the status of East Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, borders, and Israelis settlements - and he added, Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.


FROM THE BBC WORLD SERVICE

More from BBC World Service
He said he respected Israelis' choice at the ballot box, but added that the Israeli government should commit itself to the peace "roadmap" and the two-state solution.

A year of peace talks between Mr Abbas' administration and the Israelis have yielded few results.

Meanwhile, Israeli settlement-building has continued, with nearly half a million settlers now occupying land in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in contravention to international law, though Israel disputes this.

The BBC's Middle East editor, Jeremy Bowen, says that the big question is whether the new US administration of Barack Obama is prepared to twist Mr Netanyahu's arm on the two-state solution.

He says there are signs of a growing feeling in Washington that allowing Israel total freedom to decide its own policy on the Palestinians may not, in fact, be a productive way to address Israel's security problems.

But he says the main Israeli objection to a Palestinian state is that if it was controlled by an enemy entity such as Hamas, that could in fact be disastrous for Israeli security.

'The Palestinians' own deep internal divisions are also an obstacle to an effective settlement.

Gaza is in the hands of the Islamist Hamas faction, while the West Bank administration is led by the more secular Fatah group - though Israeli forces occupy large swathes of the West Bank and both territories are subject to external Israeli controls.


BBC

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By Heather Sharp
BBC News, Gaza

Omsyat, 12, has become nervous and aggressive, Hala, 7, has completely stopped speaking and Sobhy, 11, burned the toys he was brought with a candle, says their mother, Wafa Awersha.

Psychiatric nurse Rowiya Hamam nods as she sits on a thin mattress on floor of the tent in al-Atatra in northern Gaza.

In what is now their home, Mrs Awersha updates her on how the five children are coping with their brother's death in the recent conflict.

Sobhy Awersha, 11, in tent in al-Atatra, Gaza
Sobhy stares at the floor fiddling with a toy as he is asked about his loss
Ibrahim, 9, was hit by Israeli bullets on 4 January and died before his siblings' eyes, with their injured parents barely conscious nearby, the family say.

His body lay for four days outside their house before the fighting waned enough for neighbours to take it away on a donkey cart.

Several hundred of the 1,300 Palestinian deaths were children and some accounts of civilian deaths have raised concerns of war crimes.

After Ibrahim's death, Sobhy began behaving like his sibling and asking to be called Ibrahim, Ms Hamam says.

"School's fine," he says, when asked. "I like maths." But he stares at the ground and tears soon well in his eyes.


Drawing by Shahed, 5, Jabaliya, Gaza

Audio gallery: Children's drawings
Mrs Awersha says he used to be top in his class, but he struggles to concentrate now.

Hala covers her head with a blanket whenever Ibrahim is mentioned, while Diya, 3, beheaded the soft toys he was given, Ms Hamam says.

'For my kids'

Ms Hamam is one of a team of mental health workers in Gaza that say they have been "overwhelmed" by the scale of the needs since the conflict.

She has visited the Awersha family several times, bringing toys and games, trying to help the children express their feelings and teaching them deep breathing exercises.

Mrs Awersha smiles and teases the children as she scrapes the girls' matted hair into pony tails and helps them put on the school smocks rescued from the rubble of their home. The tent buzzes with fat, black flies.

Mrs Awersha exhales hard when asked how she is coping. And then the tears flow.

Wafa' Awersha and her son Sobhy, al-Atatra, Gaza
Wafa says she jokes with her children, but cries when she is alone
"Maybe you found me making people laugh, but honestly I'm doing this just for my kids," she says.

Whenever she goes back to her bulldozed home and stands in the spot where Ibrahim was killed, she weeps and weeps, she says.

Gaza's mental health professionals have been working flat out in schools, kindergartens, clinics, homes and tents to try to help similar cases.

Hassan Zeyada, who heads the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme's centre in Gaza City, and his colleague, psychiatrist Sami Owaida, say they are exhausted.

"Many of our colleagues lost relatives. We have to give support, but sometimes we feel that we need support," says Dr Oweida.

Dr Zeyada also points out the difficulty of treating "ongoing and continuous trauma" in a place where a long-term political solution remains elusive.

"Sometimes you feel you are wasting your efforts. Another invasion, another war, another attack will happen - you feel they will demolish or destroy all your efforts," he says.

Anxiety

Ongoing trauma too plagues the residents of Israel's southern towns, who live under the constant threat of Palestinian rocket fire, with about 8,000 rockets and mortars fired since 2001.

At least 18 people have been killed in that time. Children under eight have known little else but a constantly heightened state of anxiety.


Girl examines rocket damage in Sderot, 05.01.09

Children hit hard as Gaza toll rises
Sderot longs for end to rockets
And even after the recent fighting, which Israel said was aimed at reducing the rocket fire, a steady flow of rockets and mortars has continued.

But while mental health workers on both sides say at least 20-30% of the population suffers symptoms of trauma, the Israeli south is clearly better equipped to tackle the problems than Gaza.

GCMHP say there are only five clinical psychiatrists in Gaza trained to international standards, and no clinical psychologists.

'Basics for life'

John Jenkins, the World Health Organization's mental health project manager for the West Bank and Gaza , says that, as well as difficulties in getting people with the right skills into Gaza , shortages of drugs such as tranquilisers and antidepressants are a constant problem.

He says it is too early to assess the scale of the mental health needs from the recent conflict, as the impact of trauma takes time to emerge.

Wafa Awersha, outside the tent where she is living with her husband and five children
Living in a tent makes it harder for children to regain a sense of normality

But human beings' ability to deal with stress is "quite remarkable", he says, and the majority of people do not need specialist treatment.

"What people really need are the basic things in life," he says, such as reliable food supplies, a secure place to live and prospects for work. This should "absolutely" be the priority, he says.

But as Ms Hamam traipses away past the rows of tents, while children in flip-flops clamour at her to bring them shoes, she says that for the Awersha children, the conditions will make recovery harder.

"Before the war, they had their routine - come home, watch TV, write their homework, but in the tent it's very difficult."

"It will take too much time for them to recover," she says shaking her head sadly.

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Gaza homes destruction 'wanton'
Destroyed house in Jabaliya, 15 Feb 2009
Amnesty said the way houses had fallen suggested they had been blown up from under walls and pillars

Human rights investigators say Israeli forces engaged in "wanton destruction" of Palestinian homes during the recent conflict in Gaza.

Amnesty International has told the BBC News website the methods used raised concerns about war crimes.

Israel's military said buildings were destroyed because of military "operational needs".

The Israeli Defense Forces said they operated in accordance with international law during the conflict.

However, the use of mines to destroy homes contradicted this claim, the head of the Amnesty International fact-finding mission to southern Israel and Gaza, Donatella Rovera, has argued.


The IDF emphasises that the terrorist organisation, Hamas, and its infrastructure were the target of Operation Cast Lead, and not the civilian population in Gaza
Israeli military statement

Israeli troops had to leave their vehicles to plant the mines, indicating that they faced no danger and that there was no military or operational justification, she said.

Breaking the Silence, an Israeli group that gathers and circulates the testimonies of Israeli soldiers, has also told the BBC News website that its findings from the Gaza war suggested many demolitions had been carried out when there was no immediate threat.

"From the testimonies that we've gathered, lots of demolitions - buildings demolished either by bulldozers or explosives - were done after the area was under Israeli control," said Yehuda Shaul, one of the group's members.

Destruction of civilian property is not illegal in itself under international law, but it must be justifiable on military grounds - for example if the building was booby trapped or being used as cover for enemy fighters.

Thousands of buildings were destroyed in the 22-day Israeli operation.

Some of them were police stations, mosques and government premises attacked in targeted airstrikes, in many cases with surrounding buildings left in tact.

Reduced to rubble

There were also whole neighbourhoods reduced to rubble in areas where the Israeli ground forces were present.


Father Raed al-Atamna, whose home was destroyed in Gaza conflict

Audio slideshow: Gaza homeless

Ms Rovera said Amnesty International was concerned about "large scale destruction of homes and other civilian properties" during the conflict.

"The destruction was, in our view, and according to our findings, wanton destruction - it could not be justified on military grounds," she said.

Ms Rovera said her team found fragments of anti-tank mines in and around destroyed properties.

Their use was also consistent with remains of houses, collapsed in on themselves as if blown up from below, rather than destroyed from above as in an airstrike, she said.

Troops would have had to leave their armoured vehicles to plant them and rig up the detonators, she said.

"Unless those operating on the ground felt not just 100% but 200% secure - that the places were not booby trapped, that they wouldn't come under fire - they could not have got out of the vehicles," she said. "They would not have used that method."

"The use of the method tells us even more that there wasn't the kind of danger that might have made it lawful to destroy some of those properties," Ms Rovera said.


GAZA DESTRUCTION
14,000 homes
219 factories
240 schools
UNDP estimates

In pictures: Samouni Street
Who will rebuild Gaza?
"Wanton destruction on a large scale would qualify as a war crime," she said, adding that the practice was among several used in the conflict by both sides that Amnesty is concerned may constitute war crimes.

In one case visited by the BBC, six homes belonging to the extended family of Raed al-Atamna in the Izbit Abed Rabbo area, near the border with Israel, were destroyed.

Mr Atamna said a UN ordnance clearance team had found several mines in and around the remains of one of the homes.

He said he and his family had fled the area during the Israeli military operation, and returned to find their homes demolished.

'Substantial operational needs'

The IDF said buildings in the Gaza Strip were destroyed during Operation Cast Lead due to "substantial operational needs".

In a written statement, it said: "For example, buildings were either booby-trapped, located over tunnels, or fire was opened from within them in the direction of IDF soldiers.

"The terrorist organisations operated from within the civilian population, using them as a cover and made cynical use of the IDF's strict rules of engagement, opening fire from within civilian population centres, mosques, schools, hospitals and even private residences of citizens in the Gaza Strip.

"The troops were briefed and trained to avoid harming uninvolved civilians and did all they could to give warning in advance so that civilians could distance themselves from combat zones.

"The IDF emphasises that the terrorist organisation, Hamas, and its infrastructure were the target of Operation Cast Lead, and not the civilian population in Gaza."

A military source said the mines used do not detonate automatically and therefore do not represent a danger when left unexploded in the field.
BBC

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Israel closes Mauritania embassy
map

Israel has closed its embassy in the North African state of Mauritania at the request of the government.

The Israeli foreign ministry announcement came after reports that Mauritania had given Israeli embassy staff 48 hours to leave the country.

Mauritania had been one of only three members of the Arab League to have full diplomatic relations with Israel.

But it froze relations and recalled its ambassador to Israel in January in response to Israel's offensive in Gaza.

The AFP news agency reports that the Israeli flag and security measures, including surveillance cameras, were taken down overnight.

The move comes just days before Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, is due to visit Mauritania.

He has been pressing for Mauritania to cut its ties with Israel.

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US trying to save Israel from prosecution'
Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:57:59 GMT
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum
Hamas accuses the US of trying to save Israel from being prosecuted for Gaza war crimes and sending it weapons to continue its crimes.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said on Wednesday that US polices have not changed in the new administration.

Referring to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to the Middle East and her meetings with Israeli and Palestinian Authority leaders, Barhoum said that Clinton brought nothing new to the Palestinian issue.

The Hamas spokesman added that Clinton does not have anything to offer the Palestinians except 'her solidarity with Abbas and his Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad'.

Hillary Clinton met Acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas and his Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad in Ramallah on Wednesday after visiting Israeli leaders in Tel Aviv.

Barhoum said that Clinton is trying to save Israel from being prosecuted for war crimes against the Palestinians, the International Middle East Media Center reported.

International organizations and human rights groups accuse Israel for using forbidden arms, such as depleted uranium and white phosphorus in the Gaza war that left at least 1,330 Palestinians dead and thousands others injured.

"Abu Mazin (Abbas) and Clinton should have recognized the legitimate results of the Palestinian elections", Barhoum said, "They both respected the results of the Israeli elections, and should have done the same regarding the Palestinian elections".

In January of 2006, the Hamas movement achieved an overwhelming victory in Palestine's legislative elections by taking 76 out of 132 parliamentary seats in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Barhoum also added that Abbas and Clinton should have criticized the demolition of Palestinian homes in al-Quds (Jerusalem), and the ongoing settlement construction and expansion in the Holy City and the rest of the occupied West Bank.

"Instead, the US is sending Israel tons of weapons to continue its crimes against our people", the spokesman said.

Israel has not stopped the expansion of illegal settlement activities in Palestinian lands despite its commitments to dismantle all settlements built since March 2001 under an internationally drafted 'roadmap for peace'.

MSH/MMA

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Four activists, heading for Gaza with humanitarian aid convoy 'Viva Palestina', have been retuned to Libya short after crossing into Egypt.

The convoy of some 100 vehicles carrying one million pounds worth of humanitarian aid departed from Britain on February 14 and is to enter the impoverished Palestinian territory via Rafah in Egypt.

The four were identified as Stephen Gray, Richard Burton, Shams Suppin Razaq and Azam Hussein.

Press TV's correspondent Yvonne Ridley, who is accompanying 'Viva Palestina', said a lawyer was to contact the British Foreign Office to find out why the four were deported Egypt.

"The Egyptian authorities have not come up with an explanation as to why these men should be separated from the convoy. There is a feeling that they could mere political pawns in a much wider game is being played out in Egypt at the moment with Libya, Egypt and Israel," she said.

"Israel is putting huge pressure on Egypt to force the convoy which is now doubled in size, a British-Libyan venture, through Israeli territory."

She added that the convoy was warmly welcomed on the surface by the Egyptian authorities, local dignitaries and officials, but its movement was at the same time severely restricted due to a large number of police vehicles and officers involved in the operation of moving 'Viva Palestina' to Rafah.

Meanwhile, the convoy has been asked to move in groups of twenty, which has further reduced its speed.

'Viva Palestina' -- organized by British Parliamentarian George Galloway -- has passed through France, Spain and a number of North African countries on its way to the food and energy hungry Gaza Strip, where thousands of Palestinians have long been dependent on aid handouts.

Israel refuses to lift a 19-month-long blockade on the coastal sliver to force to its knees the Islamic Hamas movement which controls the Palestinian territory.

The siege continues almost a month after the Israeli army lunched an all-out onslaught on Gaza in a bid to oust Hamas and put an end to Palestinian rocket attacks, which usually leave little damage but have drawn bitter criticism from the Tel Aviv officials.

The 23-day offensive left at least 1,330 Palestinians killed, more than 5,450 others injured and widely devastated the infrastructures in the densely populated Gaza Strip, home to some 1.5 people.
Source: Press TV

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CAIRO — A confidential European report has accused Israel of using settlement expansions, systematic house demolitions and the West Bank barrier to pursue its illegal annexation of Al-Quds (occupied East Jerusalem). "Israel's actions in and around Jerusalem constitute one of the most acute challenges to Israeli-Palestinian peace-making," says the EU Heads of Mission Report on East Jerusalem obtained by the Guardian on Saturday, March 7.

The report, dated December 15, 2008, says the Israeli measures in Al-Quds are meant to judaize the holy city.

"Israeli 'facts on the ground' - including new settlements, construction of the barrier, discriminatory housing policies, house demolitions, restrictive permit regime and continued closure of Palestinian institutions - increase Jewish Israeli presence in East Jerusalem, weaken the Palestinian community in the city, impede Palestinian urban development and separate East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank."

"Many of its current illegal actions in and around the city have limited security justifications."

Israel captured Al-Quds in the 1967 six-day war and later annexed it in a move not recognized by the international community.

Since the occupation of Al-Quds, Israel has adopted a series of oppressive measures to force the Palestinians out, including systematic demolition of their homes.

Al-Quds is home to Al-Haram Al-Sharif, which includes Islam's third holiest shrine Al-Aqsa Mosque, and represents the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Rapid Pace

The EU report says the Israeli settlement construction in the east of Al-Quds has been on a "rapid pace".

It says nearly 5,500 new settlement housing units have been submitted for public review with 3,000 already approved since the Annapolis peace conference in late 2007.

The confidential document cites Israeli plans to build a Jewish settlement in the Muslim quarter of Al-Quds and expanding settlements in Silwan neighborhood which abuts the Old City of Al-Quds.

"(The goal) is to create territorial contiguity between East Jerusalem settlements and the Old City and to sever East Jerusalem and its settlement blocks from the West Bank," it says.

It also cites plans to build 3,500 settlement units, an industrial park, two police stations and other infrastructure in a controversial area known as E1, between Al-Quds and the West Bank settlement of Ma'ale Adumim, home to 31,000 settlers.

"(Israeli measures in E1 were) one of the most significant challenges to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process."

The Israeli government announced plans last week to double Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The EU report blasted Israel's systematic demolitions of Palestinian homes in the holy city.

"(The demolitions are) illegal under international law, serve no obvious purpose, have severe humanitarian effects, and fuel bitterness and extremism."

Israeli occupation authorities demolished two Palestinian houses in the holy city on Monday and issued demolition orders for more than 88 houses in Silwan.

The plans would affect about 1,500 people in Silwan, home to 10,000 Palestinians.

Since 2000, Israel has razed about 700 homes in the holy city under the pretext of lacking official permits.

There are thousands of warrants yet to be carried out for further destruction.

Source: IslamOnline

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NOUAKCHOTT: Mauritania’s government expelled Israeli diplomats and shut the embassy yesterday after freezing ties with the Jewish state over its invasion of Gaza.

Mauritania was one of only three Arab countries that had full diplomatic relations with Israel. The closure of the embassy in Nouakchott leaves just Egypt and Jordan with full ties with the Jewish state.

Mauritania’s communications minister said the move was a result of a decision taken at a meeting of Arab leaders in Doha in mid-January following Israel’s invasion of Gaza. “We informed them of the decision to suspend relations at the time of the summit in Doha, and it is now being executed,” El Kory Ould Abdel Mola told Reuters. “The embassy is closed.”

Another Mauritanian official said Israeli diplomats had been given 48 hours to leave the northwest African country. Staff were seen leaving the building.

“Israel has decided to close its embassy in Nouakchott,” the embassy said in a statement. “The ambassador is on vacation.”

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said in a statement in Tel Aviv: “Following the Mauritanian government’s decision on Jan. 16, 2009 to freeze diplomatic relations with Israel, and at its request, Israel will close its embassy in Nouakchott as of today.”

An official close to Mauritanian leader Abdel Aziz said that after the Doha summit, the Foreign Ministry had sent a letter to the Israeli ambassador advising him to leave. Summit host Qatar said at the time that it would freeze its own relations with Israel, which are at a lower level than full diplomatic ties.

Nouakchott, in common with other cities across the Arab world, saw protests against the Gaza attacks earlier this year. Over 1,300 Palestinians — at least 410 of them children — were killed in Israel’s three-week war on Palestinians.

In Tehran, general prosecutor Syed Mortzavi was quoted by Fars news agency as saying yesterday that Iran will send Interpol a list of over 100 Israeli “war criminals” involved in the massacre of Palestinians in Gaza.

A senior religious leader, meanwhile, said Israeli leaders and military commanders deemed by Iran to be war criminals should be executed. Addressing a Friday sermon broadcast live on state radio, Ahmad Khatami, a member of the powerful Assembly of Experts, said: “I thank our judiciary, which has called for the arrest and punishment of these savage criminals. Our judiciary has the right to announce verdicts, and I say frankly that the verdict against them should be execution for being corrupt on earth and waging war against God and the Prophet (pbuh).”

On Sunday, chief prosecutor Ghorbanali Dorri-Najafbadi asked for international arrest warrants to be issued for 34 Israeli political leaders and 114 military commanders over Israel’s war on Gaza. ¬
Source: Arab News

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Ex-Israel head faces rape charge
Moshe Katsav, Jan 2007
Mr Katsav has previously said he wanted to prove his innocence

Israel's ex-President Moshe Katsav is to be charged with sex offences including the rape of a former female employee, the justice ministry says.

Justice officials say the testimony of the women involved is reliable.

Mr Katsav last year called off a plea bargain that would have seen him plead guilty to sexual misconduct but avoid more serious charges.

A spokesman for Mr Katsav, who quit his post in 2007, says he now welcomes the chance to prove his innocence in court.

The charges relate to accusations by a number of women staffers who worked under Mr Katsav while he was tourism minister and president.

The decision to indict him "was made after the attorney general and state prosecutor reached the conclusion that the complainants' testimony was reliable and that there is sufficient evidence for an indictment", the justice ministry said.

Justice officials have not said when the indictment will be formally filed.

'Witch-hunt'

The BBC's Tim Franks in Jerusalem says this has been a tortuous legal tale, already lasting nearly three years.

Israeli ex-President Moshe Katsav arrives at court to protests on Tuesday
Women's rights activists protested as Mr Katsav arrived at court last year
Under the terms of the proposed plea bargain, prosecutors had agreed not to seek a jail term if Mr Katsav admitted to sexual harassment and indecent acts.

Part of the controversial plea bargain deal was for him to step down as president of Israel, a largely ceremonial role. He was also supposed to pay damages to his accusers.

The deal was widely criticised in Israel for its leniency, our correspondent says.

But in a surprise move, Mr Katsav withdrew from the deal at a hearing last April, telling the court he wanted to fight for his innocence.

The former president has accused the Israeli media of mounting a politically motivated witch-hunt against him.

Originally, the police charged Mr Katsav with rape, sexual harassment and abuse of power.

Rape convictions in Israel carry a maximum sentence of 16 years in prison.

Mr Katsav was replaced as president by Shimon Peres.
BBC

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The Zionist entity expressed its objection to the British cabinet’s decision to initiate talks with Hezbollah. Israel called on the United Kingdom to stop establishing any kind of relations with the party.

An Israeli foreign affairs spokesman said on Sunday that Israel considered any rapprochement between Britain and Hezbollah as very dangerous,.

The spokesman clarified that Israel did not distinguish between Hezbollah's political and military wings, unlike its stance on Hamas.

The spokesman also claimed that while Hezbollah was represented in the Lebanese cabinet, it was enhancing its military capacities, especially in South Lebanon, for future confrontations with Israel.

Israel called on Britain to reaffirm its 2005 decision, which cut all relations with Hezbollah and stated that it was a terrorist organization.
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