DAMASCUS (AFP)--Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem accused Israel Sunday of committing war crimes during its military onslaught on the Gaza Strip and argued a U.N.-backed ceasefire should be binding.
"The Security Council should adopt a binding resolution on a ceasefire...which also would include war crimes committed by Israel," Moallem said at a joint news conference with his Brazilian counterpart Celso Amorim.
"Israel has committed war crimes...killing women and children, relief workers, journalists and using white phosphorus bombs," he said.
Moallem said he was "surprised the U.N. Security Council does not report such crimes...and it does not form an independent commission of inquiry" to investigate.
Under the 1980 Geneva convention, the use of white phosphorus was banned against civilians or against military forces stationed in proximity of civilian.
U.N. Security Council Resolution 1860 "stresses the urgency of and calls for an immediate, durable and fully respected ceasefire, leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza."
It "calls for the unimpeded provision and distribution throughout Gaza of humanitarian assistance, including of food, fuel and medical treatment," and welcomes initiatives aimed at "creating and opening humanitarian corridors and other mechanisms for the sustained delivery of humanitarian aid."
Despite the resolution, Israel has decided to continue its operation in Gaza. The Islamist Hamas movement which controls Gaza says it is unconcerned by the resolution as it wasn't consulted.
Moallem said Syria, France, Turkey and Qatar were all trying "to reach a ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territory, a lifting of the blockade and the opening of the crossing points."
He outlined the possibility of an international conference on rebuilding Gaza after the introduction of any truce between the Palestinians and Israel.
Earlier, after meeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Amorim called for "mobilization to put pressure on Israel to cease its aggression," according to SANA news agency.
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Publié le 11 janvier 2009 Copyright © 2009 Dowjones