Israeli raids are denounced, defended

Offensive sparks demonstrations across Arab world

Palestinian youths threw stones at Israeli border police in the village of Issawiya in Arab East Jerusalem yesterday. (ammar awad/Reuters)

BEIRUT - Angry demonstrations broke out across the Arab world, and diplomats in the region called for emergency measures in the aftermath of Israel's deadly air attacks against Hamas security strongholds in the Gaza Strip.

But few expect the uproar to do more than reinforce current regional trends: Pro-US Arab governments continue to alienate large portions of their populations despite statements of protest against Israel, analysts said, while Iran and Syria score propaganda points for their patronage of militant Islamic groups such as Hamas that fight Israel.

"It will give Iran and Syria a boost," said Sarkis Naoum, a columnist for the pro-Western Lebanese newspaper An Nahar. "They will use it to say to the Arab people, 'Your regimes, presidents and kings won't help. They turn a blind eye to what is happening.' "

Pan-Arab satellite channels broadcast nearly nonstop images of bloodied Palestinian bodies and ambulances screaming. Enraged men and women from Yemen to Morocco gave interviews condemning the air attacks, which took place three days after militants in Gaza launched rockets and mortar shells on targets in southern Israel.

The United States and other supporters said yesterday that Israel was forced to take military action because of the Hamas strikes. The White House called for the cease-fire to be restored.

Some Arabs and other Muslims condemned not just Israel but also Mahmoud Abbas, the US-backed president of the Palestinian Authority, and Egypt.

Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak, met with the Israeli foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, days before Israel's assault. Mubarak, who led an unsuccessful mediation effort seeking to extend a truce between Israel and Hamas that ended last week, lodged a formal protest yesterday with Israel's ambassador.

"This is going to embarrass the Arab regimes, especially those that have ties with Israel and those who have ties with the US and followed the American strategy and the American policy over the last few years," said Mohammed Masri, an analyst at the Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan in Amman. An escalation of the conflict between Hamas and Israel had been expected for days. But the extent of the air attacks, which left 230 people dead, caught many off guard.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon denounced Israel's "excessive use of force" while recognizing its security concerns. The European Union called the civilian toll unacceptable. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, called the offensive a "war crime."

Hamas said yesterday that Arab countries should break ties with Israel, if they have them, and all should work to end the Israeli blockade of Gaza.

Arab foreign ministers said they would convene an emergency meeting in Cairo on Wednesday. "We are facing a continuing spectacle which has been carefully planned," Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa told reporters in Cairo. "So we have to expect that there will be many casualties."

Demonstrations erupted in Amman, the capital of Jordan, as well as in Damascus, the Syrian capital, and the West Bank.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said, "The United States strongly condemns the repeated rocket and mortar attacks against Israel and holds Hamas responsible for breaking the cease-fire and for the renewal of violence in Gaza. The cease-fire should be restored immediately."

"These people are nothing but thugs, so Israel is going to defend its people against terrorists like Hamas that indiscriminately kill their own people," Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said in Crawford, Texas.

In a joint statement, Combined Jewish Philanthropies and the Jewish Community Relations Council said, "No country can tolerate such deliberate assaults indefinitely - and Israel has shown extraordinary restraint, publicly calling upon Hamas to stop the attacks and seeking to extend the fragile lull in hostilities that had been in effect for the last six months."

"Israel cares deeply about protecting the lives of civilians, both in Israel and in the Gaza Strip," the statement added.

Ken Levine, president of the Boston chapter of the American Jewish Committee, said Israel had to act. "Israel has done far more than one could reasonably expect of any sovereign nation given the extreme provocations that it has faced," Levine said. "It has no alternative but to defend its citizens." He also expressed concern about the welfare of innocent civilians on both sides.