BN kekal majoriti 2/3 tapi hilang 8 kerusi Keputusan keseluruhannya, BN memenangi 55 kerusi, DAP (12), PKR (3) dan Bebas (1). Keputusan itu menunjukkan BN kehilangan lapan kerusi, berbanding 63 kerusi yang dimenanginya pada 2006. DAP dan PKR juga menyapu bersih semua lima kerusi di Kuching.
Sumber: malaysiakini
Showing posts with label PBB. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PBB. Show all posts
KEPUTUSAN PILIHANRAYA NEGERI SARAWAK
HAMAS DAN ISRAEL MASING-MASING TOLAK PERDAMAIAN TAJAAN PBB
Resolusi Majlis Keselamatan PBB telah diluluskan pada malam Khamis lalu, dengan undian 14-0
sementara US mengambil sikap berkecuali. Resolusi itu " menekankan kepentingan dan tindakan segera untuk gencatan senjata yang serta merta berkuatkuasa, mampu bertahan dan dihormati, ke arah penarikan balik sepenuhnya tentera Israel di Gaza".
((Sila klik pada imej untuk dibesarkan))
Regime Israel mahu sebarang gencatan senjata mestilah disertai dengan jaminan bahawa tiada serangan roket oleh HAMAS dan tiada penyeludupan senjata di Gaza. Dilaporkan bahawa semasa gencatan senjata yang berkuatkuasa selama 6 bulan yang lalu, HAMAS telah menggunakan terowong bawah tanah di sempadan Mesir-Gaza untuk menyeludup roket jarak sederhana yang ia sekarang sedang gunakan untuk mencapai sasaran jauh ke dalam Israel.
Manakala pihak HAMAS pula tidak mahu menerima sebarang perjanjian yang tidak memasukkan klausa pembukaan sepenuhnya laluan sempadan yang ditutup. Pihak Israel berkemungkinan tidak akan menerima permintaan puak HAMAS itu justeru ini akan membolehkan HAMAS memperkasakan kawalan ke atas kawasan yang dikuasainya pada Jun 2007.
The U.N. Security Council resolution was approved Thursday night by a 14-0 vote, with the United States abstaining. The resolution "stresses the urgency of and calls for an immediate, durable and fully respected cease-fire, leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza."
Israel's government says any cease-fire must guarantee an end to rocket fire and arms smuggling into Gaza. During a six-month cease-fire that ended with the current operation, Hamas is thought to have used tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border to smuggle in the medium-range rockets it is now using to hit deeper than ever inside Israel.
Hamas has said it won't accept any agreement that does not include the full opening Gaza's blockaded border crossings. Israel is unlikely to agree to that demand, as it would allow Hamas to strengthen its hold on the territory which it violently seized in June 2007
Israel and Hamas Reject U.N. Truce, Intensify Attacks
Friday, January 09, 2009
FOXnews/ AFP
Israeli jets and helicopters bombarded Gaza on Friday and Hamas responded with a barrage of rockets, as Israel's government said it will press forward with its offensive despite a U.N. resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.
One Israeli airstrike killed two Hamas militants and another unidentified man, while another flattened a five-story building in northern Gaza, killing at least seven people, including an infant, Hamas security officials said. By midday, 19 Palestinians had been killed.
In all, Israeli aircraft struck more than 30 targets before dawn, and constant explosions continued after first light. Friday's deaths in Gaza pushed the Palestinian death toll to more than 760 in the two-week-old conflict, with at least half of them civilians, according to Gaza health officials. Thirteen Israelis have died.
In Israel's first official response to the U.N. Security Council resolution, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said Israel "has never agreed to let an external body decide its right to protect the security of its citizens."
The military "will continue acting to protect Israeli citizens and will carry out the missions it was given," the statement read. The rockets fell in Israel on Friday "only prove that the U.N.'s decision is not practical and will not be kept in practice by the Palestinian murder organizations."
Israel launched its assault on Dec. 27 in an attempt to halt years of rocket fire from the Hamas-controlled territory.
Despite the devastating offensive, Hamas continued to bombard residents of southern Israel. Rockets hit Friday morning across southern Israel, including in and around Beersheba and Ashkelon, which — like other cities within rocket range of Gaza — have largely been paralyzed since the fighting began.
The U.N. Security Council resolution was approved Thursday night by a 14-0 vote, with the United States abstaining. The resolution "stresses the urgency of and calls for an immediate, durable and fully respected cease-fire, leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza."
Israel and Hamas were not parties to the council vote and it is now up to them to stop the fighting. But a Hamas spokesman said the Islamic militant group "is not interested" in the cease-fire because it was not consulted and the resolution did not meet its minimum demands.
Israel called up thousands of reserve troops earlier in the week, and they are now ready for action.
The Security Council action came hours after a U.N. agency suspended food deliveries to Gaza, and the Red Cross accused Israel of blocking medical assistance after forces fired on aid workers. It also followed concerns of a wider conflict after militants in Lebanon fired rockets into northern Israel early Thursday, though the border has been quiet since.
The United States abstained from the Security Council vote even though it helped hammer out the resolution's text along with Arab nations that have ties to Hamas and the Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the U.S. "fully supports" the resolution but abstained "to see the outcomes of the Egyptian mediation" with Israel and Hamas, also aimed at achieving a cease-fire.
The resolution expresses "grave concern" at the escalating violence and the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and emphasizes the need to open all border crossings and achieve a lasting solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
It also calls on U.N. member states "to intensify efforts to provide arrangements and guarantees in Gaza in order to sustain a durable cease-fire and calm, including to prevent illicit trafficking in arms and ammunition and to ensure the sustained reopening" of border crossings.
In addition, the resolution "condemns all violence and hostilities directed against civilians" and calls for "unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza."
Osama Hamdan, a Hamas envoy to Lebanon, told the al-Arabiya satellite channel that the group "is not interested in it because it does not meet the demands of the movement."
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the U.N. failed to consider the interests of the Palestinian people. "This resolution doesn't mean that the war is over," he told the al-Jazeera satellite television network. "We call on the Palestinian fighters to mobilize and be ready to face the offensive, and we urge the Arab masses to carry on with their angry protests."
Following the resolution, Egypt was expected to take the lead in persuading Israel and Hamas to accept it. Israeli representatives returned home from talks in Cairo Thursday, and Hamas was due to send political leaders to the Egyptian capital on Saturday.
Israel's government says any cease-fire must guarantee an end to rocket fire and arms smuggling into Gaza. During a six-month cease-fire that ended with the current operation, Hamas is thought to have used tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border to smuggle in the medium-range rockets it is now using to hit deeper than ever inside Israel.
Hamas has said it won't accept any agreement that does not include the full opening Gaza's blockaded border crossings. Israel is unlikely to agree to that demand, as it would allow Hamas to strengthen its hold on the territory which it violently seized in June 2007.
With Israeli troops now in control of many of the open areas used by militants to launch rockets, gunman have continued shooting from inside populated neighborhoods.
The conflict has left hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza increasingly desperate for food, water, fuel and medical assistance, and the situation was expected to worsen as humanitarian efforts fall victim to the fighting.
One of the dead Thursday was a Ukrainian woman, the first foreigner to die in the fighting, according to Gaza Health Ministry official Dr. Moaiya Hassanain. He said the woman was married to a Palestinian doctor who trained in Ukraine and returned with her to Gaza. Her 2-year-old son was also killed in the tank shelling east of Gaza City, he said.
Details are emerging of other incidents in which civilians were killed. A U.N. agency said Israeli troops evacuated Palestinian civilians to a house in Gaza City on Jan. 4, then shelled the building 24 hours later, killing 30 people.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs report was based on eyewitness testimony. It added details to an incident previously reported by The Associated Press and an Israeli human rights group.
The U.N. agency said 110 people were in the house. The 30 people reported killed is a far higher figure than in other accounts.
The Israeli military had no comment on the report Friday.
The West Bank saw its biggest protests so far Friday, as thousands took to the streets following prayers to express their anger at the Israeli offensive. In Ramallah, scuffles broke out between supporters of Hamas and the rival Fatah faction.
Israel launched its offensive Dec. 27 in response to cross-border rocket attacks by the Islamic group Hamas — which the United States and Israel consider a terrorist organization and whose charter calls for the destruction of the state of Israel.
RINGKASAN BERITA TERKINI DI GAZA OLEH BLOOMBERG
Agensi Bantuan dan Pekerjaan Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu
membuka beberapa sekolah dan pusat perlindungan untuk orang awam yang kehilangan rumah di kem pelarian kerana dimusnahkan oleh tentera Israel. Pada ketika itu tiada kelas sedang berjalan. Bendera PBB berkibaran dan jelas. Jurucakap agensi berkenaan pasti tiada anggota HAMAS berada di sekitar sekolah tersebut, namun pihak Israel telah membedil dan mengakibatkan kematian orang awam yang kebanyakannya adalah kanak-kanak.
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Israel to Weigh Truce Offer After Gaza School Attack Kills 40
By Calev Ben-David and Saud Abu Ramadan
Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -- The Israeli government will weigh the future of its military operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, as mounting casualties among Palestinian civilians increased pressure for a truce.
At least 40 Palestinians were killed when Israeli forces struck a school run by the United Nations in Gaza, a UN official said. Israel, which struck at least 40 more Hamas targets overnight, said it responded after its soldiers were fired at from the building.
The school deaths yesterday added urgency to diplomatic efforts aimed at reaching a cease-fire as the conflict entered its 12th day. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak proposed a new initiative last night and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has been lobbying throughout the region for a truce, said the casualties at the school demonstrate the urgent need to stop the fighting. “Time works against us,” he said.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice backed the proposal and Mubarak’s call for peace talks in Cairo, which may begin as early as today.
“The Security Cabinet will meet this morning to discuss the future of the military effort in Gaza, as well as the diplomatic efforts,” said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Andy David.
Israeli President Shimon Peres, commenting during an interview with Sky News, said it may take “some days” to study the details of the cease-fire proposal.
Christopher Gunness, a spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency in Jerusalem, said in a phone interview he could confirm 40 dead and 45 injured, after three Israeli artillery shells hit the school in northern Gaza.
Rocket-Firing Cell
The Israeli army said in a faxed statement last night its investigations showed that “among the dead in the school were members of the military wing of the Hamas terror organization and a cell firing rockets and mortars at Israeli forces.”
The incident at the school may force the Israeli government to scale back its military offensive aimed at stopping rocket attacks by Palestinian militants on cities and towns in the country’s south.
“If it becomes the dominant story for the next 48 hours, especially in the U.S., then it will give Hamas a significant advantage,” Gerald Steinberg, a professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University, said in a telephone interview.
As during the war in Lebanon in 2006, the current fighting “is as much about images and public relations as it is about military developments,” Steinberg said.
Street Fighting
Israel’s military expanded its hold over the 40-kilometer (25-mile) long coastal territory, fighting in the streets of Gaza City in the north and Khan Yunis in the south. Israel continued its military operations through the night in Gaza, striking at least 40 targets including rocket launching sites, groups of Hamas gunmen, and tunnels used for weapons storage, the army said in an e-mailed statement.
Palestinian militants made their longest strike so far yesterday when a rocket hit the Israeli city of Gedera, 45 kilometers to the north, injuring a 3-month-old infant, police said. A Hamas spokesman said the group’s military wing has dozens of suicide bombers ready to confront Israeli troops in the streets of Gaza.
At least 35 rockets struck Israeli territory yesterday compared with 40 the day before, according to the army. That’s down from a peak of 76 on Dec. 27, the first day of the operation. As many as 3,200 rockets and mortar shells have been fired at Israel since the start of 2008. Rocket attacks have killed four Israelis since fighting began. At least five rockets from Gaza struck Israel this morning, police said.
‘Friendly Fire’
Six Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ground fighting began, the army said. One died on Jan. 4, three died and 24 were wounded by a tank shell in a “friendly fire incident” in northern Gaza on Jan. 5, and two more were killed in separate incidents yesterday, the military said in an e-mailed statement.
At least 630 Palestinians have died in the conflict and 2,600 have been wounded, said Mu’awia Hassanein, chief of emergency medical services in Gaza.
UN officials said as many as a quarter of the Palestinians killed were civilians, a figure Israel disputes as too high.
In reacting to the deaths at the school, the Israeli military accused Hamas of making “cynical use” of civilians by firing from schools.
UNRWA opened several schools as shelters for civilians whose houses in refugee camps were destroyed by Israeli forces. No classes were in session.
“Even though the blue UN flag was flying and visible, Israel targeted our school,” Adnan Abu Hasna, a UNRWA spokesman in Gaza, said in a telephone interview. UNRWA said it was “99.9” percent certain there were no militants in the school.
Mosques, Schools
Several mosques and schools have been struck since Israel began its assault on Gaza 12 days ago. Israel alleges Hamas was using the buildings to hide arms and wanted militants.
Gaza’s water and sewage systems are on the verge of collapse because of power shortages, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said yesterday. More than 530,000 people among Gaza’s population of 1.4 million are completely cut off from running water and the rest receive water only every few days, the agency said in an e-mailed statement.
Israel will open a “humanitarian corridor” into the Gaza Strip, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in an e-mailed statement shortly after midnight. It said that certain “geographic areas” would be made accessible to the local population for limited periods of time during which they could “stock up.”
Humanitarian Corridor
The plan for a humanitarian corridor “in no way compromises our call for an immediate cease-fire,” said UNRWA’s Gunness.
Mubarak called for a cease-fire for a “limited period” that would allow food, fuel and medicine to enter Gaza and give time for talks on a “comprehensive and lasting” agreement to end the fighting, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said.
Israel’s attack on Gaza is “genocide,” Abbas told the UN Security Council late yesterday.
Abbas left New York late yesterday for the Egyptian capital, in response to Mubarak’s invitation, according to Palestinian Authority envoy Saeb Erekat. Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gabriela Shalev said her government is “considering” the initiative.
“We invite Israelis and Palestinians to meet and discuss how not to renew the fighting, and this includes securing the borders and lifting the blockade,” Mubarak said at a news conference last night in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, after meeting with Sarkozy.
Sarkozy also met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad yesterday after holding talks the day before with Olmert and Abbas.
Syrian Influence
“I am sure that Syria has an influence; Syria should help us convince Hamas to listen to the voice of reason,” Sarkozy said yesterday at a news conference. Al-Assad said he favored a cease-fire, while describing Israel’s offensive in Gaza as a “war crime.”
Venezuela expelled Israel’s ambassador from Caracas yesterday and said the Israeli government should be tried for war crimes over the invasion of the Gaza Strip.
Israel is considering in response whether to expel Venezuela’s charge d’affaires in Tel Aviv, said the Foreign Ministry.
Last week, Israel rejected a French-proposed 48-hour truce with Hamas, saying it was seeking a permanent end to the Gaza rocket attacks.
Israeli stocks climbed yesterday for a seventh day, the longest winning streak since October 2007, following gains in European stocks and U.S. futures. The benchmark TA-25 Index of stocks has gained 12 percent since Dec. 27, when the Gaza offensive began, tracking a global rally.
Economic Blockade
The shekel fell as much as 1.46 percent to 3.8870 per dollar, and traded at 3.8844 as of 5:19 p.m. yesterday.
Israel began the campaign to halt rocket attacks after a six-month cease-fire with Hamas expired Dec. 19. Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the European Union, refused to renew the truce because it said Israel hadn’t eased its economic blockade of Gaza. Militants fired 70 rockets at Israel the day before the cease-fire ended.
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