The Arab League said on Sunday [10 Apr 2011] that it would ask the United Nations to impose a no-fly zone over the Gaza Strip to protect civilians against Israeli air strikes.<\/p>\n
The league said it would ask for an emergency meeting of the UN security council to discuss Israel’s ongoing attacks on Gaza, to lift the siege and impose a no-fly zone against the Israeli Defence Forces.<\/p>\n
Some 19 Palestinians are thought to have been killed and over 60 injured in a series of Israeli attacks on the blockaded enclave since Thursday.<\/p>\n
The statement insisted that the security council and the Quartet – the United States, European Union, Russia and the UN – bear responsibility for halting the attacks and protecting for Gaza’s unarmed citizens.<\/p>\n
Saleh Ra’fat, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s executive committee, said on Sunday that the Palestinians expect the security council to impose “international sanctions on Israel to force it to stop the escalation in Gaza and the campaign of terror in the West Bank.”<\/p>\n
Israel stepped up air strikes on Gaza last week after Hamas militants fired a rocket at an Israeli school bus, critically wounding a 16-year-old student. Hamas later said it did not know the bus was carrying students.<\/p>\n
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said at the weekend: “If they stop firing on our communities, we will stop firing. If they stop firing in general, it will be quiet, it will be good.”<\/p>\n