Lebanese PM Calls on Palestinian Factions to Unite Against Israel
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Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Seniora on Saturday called on rival Palestinian factions to unite against Israel and rebuild the Gaza Strip battered by 22 days of massive Israeli airstrikes.
In a TV interview organized by Lebanese media to support Gaza people, Seniora said the Palestinian split is the biggest favor that could be given to Israel, national news agency reported.
"All Arabs are asking you, and expecting you to unite in order to confront the enemy (Israel), and rebuild what the Israeli barbarism destroyed in Gaza," he said.
Israel is always ready to commit crimes, said Seniora, adding that Israel proved it did not learn from previous wars.
"The Israeli enemy did not learn lessons from the past that violence brings violence, and blood brings blood," Seniora said.
He called on the Lebanese to support their "Palestinian brothers in Gaza in anyway possible and according to their capabilities."
Seniora also appealed to the international community and the new US administration to seize the current opportunity made available by the Arab initiative in finding a just solution to the Palestinian problem.
The Islamic Hamas movement violently seized control of Gaza from security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in June 2007, politically splitting the geographically divided Gaza and the West Bank.
Israel, which launched massive airstrikes against Hamas rulers in Gaza on December 27 and ground incursions to the coastal enclave a week later, confirmed on Wednesday it has completed troops pullout from the Gaza Strip.
The over three-week devastating conflict between Israel and Gaza militants has left over 1,400 Palestinian people dead, 5,500 others injured and thousands of people homeless.
(Xinhua News Agency January 25, 2009)