My World Earth: UN urges calm amid clashes along Egypt-Gaza border -Israel successfully tests anti-rocket system

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

UN urges calm amid clashes along Egypt-Gaza border -Israel successfully tests anti-rocket system

The United Nations urged calm by all sides amid recent violence along the border between Egypt and Gaza, including the killing of an Egyptian security officer on Wednesday, as protests continue over a delayed aid convoy headed for the Gaza Strip.     "We are troubled by the violence along the Egypt-Gaza border," Martin Nesirky, spokesman for UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, told reporters here on Wednesday. "We call for calm and respect for Egyptian sovereignty."
    According to media reports, Egyptian security officials said the officer was hit by Palestinian gunfire from across the border. Dozens of protesters were also reportedly hurt during the demonstrations held on Tuesday, called for by Hamas, which took over control of Gaza in June 2007 from the Palestinian Authority.
    The ongoing Israeli blockade of Gaza, imposed following the Hamas takeover, has limited the amount of goods that can enter the area, triggering a humanitarian crisis for 1.5 million Palestinian inhabitants.
    UN officials and aid agencies have repeatedly called on Israel to lift the restrictions so that essential supplies including food, fuel and construction materials can enter Gaza, and to increase freedom of movement in both directions.
    On Tuesday, Ban, in a phone call with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, expressed appreciation for the fact that limited amounts of glass were now being allowed into Gaza for the repair of homes, but pressed for further imports of needed material for reconstruction.
    "We remain deeply concerned at unsustainable conditions in Gaza and reiterate the need for the re-opening of all crossings as envisaged by the 2005 Agreement on Movement and Access," Nesirky said.

Israel has completed tests on its Iron Dome anti-missile system, designed to provide a response to the thousands of rockets fired at Israel by Hamas and Hezbollah, the defence ministry said.
The system, which can intercept short-range rockets and artillery shells, underwent its final tests in the past 48 hours, a statement said.
"For the first time, Iron Dome faced multiple threats simultaneously. All the threats were intercepted with complete success," the statement said.
The next phase in the development of the system was to integrate it into the army, the statement said.
Israel hopes the system will provide it with a means to dealing with rocket fire from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and from Lebanon.
Palestinian militants have fired thousands of home-made rockets into southern Israel, prompting Israel's devastating assault on the Islamist Hamas in Gaza on December 27, 2008.
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah also fired some 4,000 rockets into northern Israel during a 2006 war with Israel, which now believes Hezbollah has an arsenal of some 40,000 rockets.
"Making Iron Dome operational will transform Israel's political and security situation on the northern and southern fronts," said Pinhas Buchris, the ministry's director general.

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