Why no one is willing to send in their troops to isreal or HAMAS ?
=========================================================
UNITED NATIONS: UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Monday demanded an immediate end to the fighting in the Gaza Strip, as he prepared to travel to the Middle East in hopes of speeding a truce between Israel and Hamas.
"My message is simple, direct and to the point: the fighting must stop," Ban said in his first press conference of the year.
"Too many people have died," he added. "There has been too much civilian suffering."
"In Gaza, the very foundation of society is being destroyed: people's homes, civic infrastructure, public health facilities and schools," the Secretary General said.
Ban insisted that the call by the UN Security Council last week for an immediate Gaza ceasefire, which both Israel and Hamas have ignored so far "must be observed."
"We have a Security Council resolution demanding an immediate and enduring ceasefire. This resolution must be observed," he declared.
The UN chief was to leave on Tuesday for his Middle East tour that will also take him to Israel, the West Bank city of Ramallah, Jordan, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Kuwait, where he was to attend an Arab League summit next Monday.
"The primary objective of the (Ban) visit is a ceasefire and the protection of the civilians in Gaza," UN spokeswoman Michele Montas earlier told a press briefing.
Egypt was holding separating separate meetings in Cairo with both Hamas and the Israelis, which Ban said he hoped would bear fruit.
Egypt has been trying to broker a ceasefire between Gaza's ruling Islamist Hamas group and Israel, which responded to Hamas rocket attacks with a military offensive in the besieged Palestinian territory on December 27 that has killed at least 918 people.
"I expect the parties now meeting in Cairo to do what is required. They must agree to the elements of an immediate ceasefire," said Ban, who was due in Cairo on Wednesday for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit and Arab League chief Amr Mussa.
"At a minimum, that means a halt to rocket attacks by Hamas militants and a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. It is time to stop the killing and the destruction."
Of the at least 918 Palestinians killed some 277 were children, while another 4,100 people have been wounded since the start of the Israeli onslaught, according to Gaza medics.
Ten Israeli soldiers and three civilians have been killed in combat or in rocket attacks since the operation began.
Ban said he was "deeply anguished" by the suffering of the people of Gaza but said he was unlikely to visit the strife-torn territory.
He added that as soon as a truce is declared, he planned to send an assessment team to Gaza "to determine the extent of damage and the humanitarian needs."
Also on Wednesday, Ban was to pay a brief visit to Amman for talks with King Abdullah II. On Thursday, the UN boss was to confer in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Ban was also to visit the West Bank city of Ramallah for talks with Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad and president Mahmud Abbas before making a brief stop in Turkey for talks with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
He was next to head for Beirut for talks with President Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister Fuad Siniora and Lebanon's parliament speaker Nabih Berri. Ban also planned a visit to the headquarters of the UN force deployed in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL).
A side trip was also planned to Damascus for talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad before the UN chief heads to Kuwait next Monday to attend a summit of the Arab League, Montas said.
Ban was due back here on January 20, the day US president-elect Barack Obama is to be inaugurated in Washington, and said he would ask the new US leader "to take over the Middle East issue as a priority."
Meanwhile, British ex-premier Tony Blair, now a peace envoy for the international community, said after meeting Mubarak that the elements for an immediate Gaza truce are in place and talks were "at a sensitive and delicate" stage.
Blair said details included an end to the smuggling of weapons into Gaza and the opening of border crossing into the Palestinian territory. - AFP/
=========================================================
UNITED NATIONS: UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Monday demanded an immediate end to the fighting in the Gaza Strip, as he prepared to travel to the Middle East in hopes of speeding a truce between Israel and Hamas.
"My message is simple, direct and to the point: the fighting must stop," Ban said in his first press conference of the year.
"Too many people have died," he added. "There has been too much civilian suffering."
"In Gaza, the very foundation of society is being destroyed: people's homes, civic infrastructure, public health facilities and schools," the Secretary General said.
Ban insisted that the call by the UN Security Council last week for an immediate Gaza ceasefire, which both Israel and Hamas have ignored so far "must be observed."
"We have a Security Council resolution demanding an immediate and enduring ceasefire. This resolution must be observed," he declared.
The UN chief was to leave on Tuesday for his Middle East tour that will also take him to Israel, the West Bank city of Ramallah, Jordan, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Kuwait, where he was to attend an Arab League summit next Monday.
"The primary objective of the (Ban) visit is a ceasefire and the protection of the civilians in Gaza," UN spokeswoman Michele Montas earlier told a press briefing.
Egypt was holding separating separate meetings in Cairo with both Hamas and the Israelis, which Ban said he hoped would bear fruit.
Egypt has been trying to broker a ceasefire between Gaza's ruling Islamist Hamas group and Israel, which responded to Hamas rocket attacks with a military offensive in the besieged Palestinian territory on December 27 that has killed at least 918 people.
"I expect the parties now meeting in Cairo to do what is required. They must agree to the elements of an immediate ceasefire," said Ban, who was due in Cairo on Wednesday for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit and Arab League chief Amr Mussa.
"At a minimum, that means a halt to rocket attacks by Hamas militants and a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. It is time to stop the killing and the destruction."
Of the at least 918 Palestinians killed some 277 were children, while another 4,100 people have been wounded since the start of the Israeli onslaught, according to Gaza medics.
Ten Israeli soldiers and three civilians have been killed in combat or in rocket attacks since the operation began.
Ban said he was "deeply anguished" by the suffering of the people of Gaza but said he was unlikely to visit the strife-torn territory.
He added that as soon as a truce is declared, he planned to send an assessment team to Gaza "to determine the extent of damage and the humanitarian needs."
Also on Wednesday, Ban was to pay a brief visit to Amman for talks with King Abdullah II. On Thursday, the UN boss was to confer in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Ban was also to visit the West Bank city of Ramallah for talks with Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad and president Mahmud Abbas before making a brief stop in Turkey for talks with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
He was next to head for Beirut for talks with President Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister Fuad Siniora and Lebanon's parliament speaker Nabih Berri. Ban also planned a visit to the headquarters of the UN force deployed in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL).
A side trip was also planned to Damascus for talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad before the UN chief heads to Kuwait next Monday to attend a summit of the Arab League, Montas said.
Ban was due back here on January 20, the day US president-elect Barack Obama is to be inaugurated in Washington, and said he would ask the new US leader "to take over the Middle East issue as a priority."
Meanwhile, British ex-premier Tony Blair, now a peace envoy for the international community, said after meeting Mubarak that the elements for an immediate Gaza truce are in place and talks were "at a sensitive and delicate" stage.
Blair said details included an end to the smuggling of weapons into Gaza and the opening of border crossing into the Palestinian territory. - AFP/
