Pals criticize world silence over Gaza carnage as expansion vowed

By: Ahmad Hammadi

HELD JERUSALEM: Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon vowed on Sunday to press ahead with a vast military offensive in the northern Gaza Strip that has left about 60 Palestinians martyred and rows of houses leveled while the Palestinians appealed for urgent international action.

In his first public comments on the operation, Sharon told army radio: “This is not a short operation.”

The Palestinians lashed out at the international community for its “silence” in the face of the incursion, the largest in the impoverished Gaza Strip since the start of the Palestinian uprising four years ago.

“The absence of international reaction is encouraging Ariel Sharon to assert that the operation will continue, although the situation is getting worse and the Palestinian people are enduring massacres,” Palestinian negotiations minister Saeb Erakat said.

He warned, “It would lead to a flare-up in violence and extremism”.

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