Götterdämmerung for the Zionists - the writing is on the wall

QANA, Lebanon (Reuters) - An Israeli air strike killed 54 Lebanese civilians, including 37 children, on Sunday, prompting Lebanon to tell U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice she was unwelcome in Beirut before a ceasefire.

+++++++

Lebanon's PM thanks Hizbollah for its 'sacrifices'
Reuters
Sunday, July 30, 2006 20:23 IST

BEIRUT: Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora thanked Hizbollah on Sunday for its "sacrifices" in its war against Israel.

"We are in a strong position and I thank the Sayyed for his efforts," Siniora said when asked about a Saturday statement by Hizbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah calling on the government to take advantage of Hizbollah's steadfastness against Israeli military might.

"I also thank all those who sacrifice their lives for the independence and sovereignty of Lebanon," he added.

Siniora, a member of Lebanon's anti-Syrian coalition, has often been at odds with the Syrian-backed Hizbollah but the 19-day-old conflict appears to have brought the two sides closer together.

+++++++

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese protesters broke into the U.N. headquarters in Beirut on Sunday, smashing windows and ransacking offices, after an Israeli air strike killed 54 people in south Lebanon.

Several thousand people massed outside the building in downtown Beirut chanting "Death to Israel, death to America. We sacrifice our blood and souls for Lebanon".

Geir Petersen, the personal representative of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in Lebanon, condemned the Israeli attack on the village of Qana and called for an immediate investigation.

+++++++

WORLD REACTIONS: U.K. brands Qana deaths 'quite appalling'
By Haaretz Service and News Agencies

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, responding to an Israeli air strike that killed at least 50 Lebanese civilians, including 23 children, said Sunday that the attack was "absolutely dreadful" and "quite appalling."

The following is a round-up of world reactions to the Qana deaths.

BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY MARGARET BECKETT:

"It's absolutely dreadful, it's quite appalling. Undoubtedly today's events will make things worse at least in the short term," she told Sky News. "We have repeatedly urged Israel to act proportionately."

SYRIAN PRESIDENT BASHAR ASSAD:

"The massacre committed by Israel in Qana this morning shows the barbarity of this aggressive entity. It constitutes state terrorism committed in front of the eyes and ears of the world," Assad said in remarks carried by state news agency SANA.

LEBANESE PRIME MINISTER FOUAD SINIORA:

"There is no place on this sad morning for any discussion other than an immediate and unconditional ceasefire as well as an international investigation into the Israeli massacres in Lebanon now," Siniora told a news conference in Beirut.

"The persistence of Israel in its heinous crimes against our civilians will not break the will of the Lebanese people."

U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE CONDOLEEZZA RICE:

"I think it is time to get to a ceasefire ... We actually have to try and put one in place," Rice told reporters in Jerusalem. "My work towards a ceasefire is really here today."

"We have to try and do our work well so that there will not be more and more and more incidents over many, many more years."

JORDAN'S KING ABDULLAH II:

"This criminal aggression is an ugly crime that has been committed by the Israeli forces in the city of Qana that is a gross violation of all international statutes."

FRENCH PRESIDENT JACQUES CHIRAC:

"France condemns this unjustified action which demonstrates more than ever the need for an immediate ceasefire without which there will only be other such incidents." Chriac's office said in a statement.

GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER FRANK-WALTER STEINMEIER:

"Every use of military force, also in the framework of self-defense, must be proportionate - in particular, victims among the civilian population absolutely must be avoided. That is why I appeal all the more urgently to the parties to the conflict not to block the way to a political agreement on the end of fighting."

HEZBOLLAH STATEMENT:

"This horrific massacre (at Qana) will not go without a response."

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION:

"The Commission has repeatedly requested that both parties come to a ceasefire as soon as possible and that under all circumstances both parties should stick to humanitarian norms and international law," said spokeswoman Katharina Von Schnurbein.

SENIOR HAMAS LAWMAKER MUSHIR AL-MASRI:

"In the face of this open war against the Arab and Muslim nations all options are open, including striking the depth of the Zionist entity," al-Masri told Reuters.

IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN HAMID REZA ASEFI:

"The Qana bombing is the outcome of (U.S. Secretary Stae Condoleezza) Rice's trip to the region. Some American officials should be put on trial for the crimes in Lebanon," the official IRNA news agency quoted Asefi as saying.

POPE BENEDICT XVI:

"In the name of God, I call on all those responsible for this spiral of violence so that weapons are immediately laid down on all sides," the Pope said in his Angelus blessing.

EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT HOSNI MUBARAK:

"The Arab Republic of Egypt expresses its profound alarm and its condemnation of the irresponsible Israeli bombing of the Lebanese village of Qana, which resulted in innocent casualties, mostly women and children," a statement from the president's office published by the state news agency MENA said.

INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP ANALYST NICHOLAS PELHAM:

"Major Israeli assaults on Lebanon have ended following a major killing of civilians. (The bombing) makes the pressure for an immediate ceasefire that much greater. But an immediate ceasefire would make it more difficult to negotiate the entry of international forces because the pressure will be on Israel rather than Hezbollah."