Haaretz
Tamuz 19, 5766
Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez said Friday that U.S. backing of Israel is
responsible for flaming tensions in the Middle East and putting the world
on course toward another "Holocaust."
"The fundamental blame falls
again on the U.S. empire. It's the empire that armed and supported the
abuses of the Israeli elite, which has invaded, abused and defied the
United Nations for a long time," Chavez said in a speech during a military
act in Caracas.
"I'll seize this opportunity to condemn
categorically and fully the aggression that the Israeli elite is carrying
out against innocents over there in the Middle East," he
said.
Chavez was referring to a new explosion of Mideast violence
this week as
Israel Air Force war planes began striking Lebanon after
Hezbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others
Wednesday in a cross-border raid into Israel. In response, Hezbollah has
fired hundreds of rockets at northern Israel.
The Venezuelan leader
charged that Israel is using excessive force.
"Are we going to bomb
cities and tell them that we won't stop bombing until they return the
soldier? That's crazy," he said.
"Worse, it's craziness with
nuclear bombs. (The Israelis) have their weapons of mass destruction and
nobody criticizes them, nobody says anything because the empire is behind
them," Chavez said.
Blaming the escalation on Washington's undue
influence, Chavez said: "The U.S. empire's desire to dominate has no
limits and that could take this world to a real Holocaust. May God save
us."
Chavez is one of the most ferocious critics of U.S. foreign
policy, even though his oil-producing country remains closely tied to the
United States, its top market, through billions of dollars (euros) in
annual crude sales.
The White House said Friday that United States
President George W. Bush would not press Israel to halt its military
operation in Lebanon.
White House spokesman Tony Snow said, when
asked whether Bush had agreed to a request from Lebanese Prime Minister
Fouad Siniora that he rein in the Israelis, "No. The president is not
going to make military decisions for Israel."
Snow told reporters
that Bush had spoken by telephone to Lebanon's prime minister among other
Middle East leaders.
He said Bush believed the Israelis have the
right to protect themselves, but should limit "so-called collateral damage
not only to facilities but also to human lives".
Snow said Siniora
had suggested a cease-fire, which Washington favored, but thought would be
hard to pull off.
"It is unlikely that either or both parties are
going to agree to that at this juncture," Snow said.
A leading
Senate Republican on Friday urged U.S. restraint in supporting Israel's
military campaign against Hezbollah, citing the problems it may cause in
the war in Iraq and efforts to disarm Iran.
Senator John W. Warner,
chairman of the Armed Services Committee, issued a written statement
Friday calling on the Bush administration to "think through very carefully
how Israel's extraordinary reaction could affect our operations in Iraq
and our joint diplomatic efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear
issue.
"This is a very critical time for the U.S. in the Middle
East, and the Israeli actions will certainly have an impact beyond Lebanon
and Gaza," Warner warned.
Rice urges Israel to 'exercise
restraint' in Lebanon
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
urged Israel on Thursday to exercise restraint in its attacks against
Lebanese targets and demanded Syria press Hizbollah guerrillas to stop
attacking Israel.
"It is extremely important that Israel exercise
restraint in its acts of self-defense," she told reporters travelling with
Bush in Germany.
Her comments, at a hastily arranged briefing,
reflected a sharper focus on Israel than statements from Bush earlier, who
said Israel has a right to defend itself with its attacks in Lebanon but
that it should not weaken the Lebanese government.
Rice said the
message was being sent through numerous diplomatic channels and added: "I
think they understand the need to exercise restraint."
Israel
struck Beirut airport and military airbases and blockaded Lebanese ports
on Thursday, intensifying reprisals that have killed 55 civilians in
Lebanon since Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers a day
earlier.
Asked in a CNN interview about Rice's call, Israel's
ambassador to the U.S. said Israel had exercised restraint since its 2000
withdrawal from Lebanon and believed its military offensive was now the
right way to deal with Hezbollah.
Ambassador Daniel Ayalon said: "I
think they (Hezbollah) misinterpreted our restraint for the last six
years."
"If we do not want to see further escalation,
deterioration, violence, this is the time to stop Hizbollah and what we
are doing is the most effective (way) to stop them."
Bush's
national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said he and Rice had spoken to
Israeli officials and received assurances Israel's focus was on Hezbollah,
not the Lebanese government.
He added that the officials said "the
actions they are going to take are going to deal with Hezbollah, will be
done in such a way to try and minimize collateral and civilian casualties,
recognizing this is difficult because Hezbollah has put targets in
civilian areas".
Rice said Syria had been "sheltering the people
who have been perpetrating these acts" against Israel, including launching
rocket attacks into northern Israel and abducting Israeli
soldiers.
"Syria needs to act responsibly and stop the use of its
territory for these kinds of activities. They need to bring all pressure
on those that it is harboring to stop this and to return these soldiers
and to allow the situation to be de-escalated," Rice said.
She said
the United States supported a three-person UN team being sent to the
region to try to defuse the crisis on the instigation of UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Asked if there was a danger of the
area slipping into war, Rice said: "I think it doesn't help to speculate
about kind of apocalyptic scenarios. What we have to do is work day by
day, hour by hour. That's what we're doing, and that's what a lot of
others are doing."
Earlier in the day, Bush said that Israel had a
right to defend itself against terrorist acts but it should not weaken the
Beirut government.
"Israel has the right to defend herself," Bush
told a news conference after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela
Merkel.
"Secondly, whatever Israel does should not weaken
the...government in Lebanon."
The president's comment came in
response to the escalating violence between Israel and Lebanon, on
Thursday after IAF warplanes carried out strikes in Lebanon in
retalliation to Hezbollah's abduction of two soldiers a day
earlier.
On Thursday, a U.S. administration official gave a
response on condition of anonymity regarding the crisis.
"We are
urging restraint on both sides, recognizing Israel's right to defend
itself," the official said.
The European Union on Thursday
criticized Israel for using what it called "disproportionate" force in its
attacks on Lebanon following Wednesday's raid by Hezbollah guerillas who
killed eight Israel Defense Forces soldier and abducted two soldiers.
"The European Union is greatly concerned about the
disproportionate use of force by Israel in Lebanon in response to attacks
by Hezbollah on Israel," according to a statement issued by Finland which
holds the EU's rotating presidency. "The presidency deplores the loss of
civilian lives and the destruction of civilian infrastructure. The
imposition of an air and sea blockade on Lebanon cannot be
justified."
"The government of Israel is greatly concerned about
the disproportionate use of one-sided language by the new European Union
presidency concerning the situation in Lebanon," said Foreign Ministry
spokesman Mark Regev said in response to the statement.