France calls upon Palestinians and Israelis to restraint

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius supported Israel’s right to self-defense on Thursday but noted that a resumption of violence is not conducive to solving the crisis. “The Palestinians have a right to a state and Israel has a right to security but we won’t solve the problems with violence,” he said. In an interview with RTL television the French minister called on Israel and the Palestinians to exercise restraint. “In the name of France I call for restraint because in an already deeply troubled region, it will be a catastrophe if another escalation occurs,” he said. A total of 15 Palestinians, including seven civilians, have been killed and more than 100 people wounded, according to Palestinian medical officials. Among the dead were three children. Britain also urged restraint and Russia said it was “very concerned,” while Washington said it was watching developments in Gaza “closely.” The Arab League will convene an emergency meeting of foreign ministers on Saturday to respond to Israeli air strikes in Gaza, the Arab League’s deputy chief said. “The meeting will be convened on Saturday, based on requests from Egypt and Palestine,” Ahmed Ben Hilli told reporters here Wednesday. The league annouced its decision on Wednesday after Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi recalled the ambassador to Israel following air strikes that killed a top Hamas militant and six other people in Gaza. Iran on its part, condemned on Thursday as “organised terrorism” an offensive by Israel against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. “Iran considers the criminal act of Israeli military forces in killing civilians as organised terrorism and strongly condemns it,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said, according to the semi-official Fars news agency. The spokesman also criticised what he called “the silence of international organizations claiming to defend human rights,” following the strikes. Israel killed the military commander of Hamas on Wednesday in an air strike on Gaza and threatened an invasion of the enclave. The Islamist group retaliated on Thursday by firing dozens of rockets into southern Israel, killing three people.