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December 28, 2008

Thousands Protest Israel's Gaza Offensive Across Middle East
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Large demonstrations were held in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria
and Yemen. Some protesters burned flags of Israel and its chief ally,
the United States, and accused both nations of engaging in terrorism 
Thousands of anti-Israel protesters have rallied across the Middle East
to denounce Israel's offensive against the Hamas militant group in the
Gaza Strip. Egyptian protesters burn an Israeli flag, during a
demonstration outside Cairo university Sunday, 28 Dec. 2008, against the
Israeli attacks against Gaza Large demonstrations were held Sunday in
Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. Some protesters burned
the flags of Israel and its chief ally, the United States, and accused
both nations of engaging in terrorism. Many demonstrators also demanded
that Arab leaders have a stronger response to the Israeli attacks in
Gaza. The Arab League plans to hold an emergency summit on the Gaza
situation in Qatar on Friday. In the Lebanese capital, Beirut, some
protesters threw stones at the Egyptian embassy, angered by what they
see as Egypt's lack of support for Gaza. Lebanese police fired tear gas
to disperse the crowd. The prime minister of Turkey, another ally of
Israel, criticized the Israeli offensive as a blow to peace. Turkish
state news agency Anatolia says Recep Tayyip Erdogan also accused the
Jewish state of using "disproportionate force." Syria says indirect
peace talks with Israel will remain suspended in protest at the Israeli
air strikes in Gaza. Syria and Israel held four rounds of talks through
Turkish mediators earlier this year, but no apparent progress was made.
Jordanian Islamist lawmakers held a protest in Amman to demand the
closure of Israel's embassy in the city. Jordan and Egypt both have
diplomatic relations with Israel, unlike most of the Arab world. A
protester shouts slogans as several hundred people demonstrated outside
the Israeli embassy in Madrid Sunday 28 Dec. 2008.Elsewhere, a suicide
bomber on a bicycle blew himself up at an anti-Israel protest in the
northern Iraqi city of Mosul, killing one demonstrator and wounding 16
others. The motive for the attack was unclear. Libyan leader Moammar
Gadhafi accused his Arab counterparts of adopting a "cowardly" response
to the Israeli offensive. He
 urged them to scrap an Arab peace plan that offers Israel recognition
in return for pulling out of all land it occupied in the 1967 Mideast
war. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused some Arab
governments of "encouraging" Israel by remaining silent on the Gaza
offensive. He also urged all Muslims to defend the Palestinians, saying
anyone who dies in the process will be considered a "martyr."

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.


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