Embassy of the State of Palestine

THE HON TANYA PLIBERSEK MP, DEPUTY LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION,SHADOW MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, MEMBER FOR SYDNEY made a statement on July 14, indicating that Labor urges calm and supports the calls of the UN Security Council for a ceasefire.

RAMALLAH, July 15 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas welcomed late on Monday the Egyptian ceasefire initiative to end a bloody week of cross-border violence between Israel and the Palestinian factions.

Abbas appreciated the Egyptian role and efforts to protect the Palestinian people, official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

The Palestinian president has also urged both parties to commit to the terms of the new ceasefire initiative to stop the Palestinian bloodshed, hoping that the new proposal would pave the way for a political process to end the occupation of Palestine and lead to the creation of an independent state.

14 July 2014 – Concerned about more civilian casualties in a possible Israeli military incursion into Gaza, senior United Nations humanitarian officials on a visit to the area called today for an immediate return to calm and a ceasefire to avoid further loss of life.

The minister for foreign affairs, Julie Bishop, said she was “deeply concerned by the deteriorating situation” in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

“The retaliatory acts from both sides that have led to civilian deaths and injuries are deeply regrettable, and I call on all parties to exercise restraint and do everything necessary to avoid a further escalation of violence,” she said.

PLO Executive Committee member, Dr. Hanan Ashrawi said, “Following the meetings of the Palestinian leadership, particularly the Political Committee and the PLO Executive Committee, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is undertaking several steps and measures to deal with the horrific situation in Gaza.”

More than 4000 Sydney protesters joined hundreds of thousands around the world on Sunday to demand an end to Israeli military strikes on Gaza.

The boisterous crowd stood shoulder-to-shoulder, waving Palestinian flags and chanting: “In our thousands, in our millions, we are all Palestinian.”

ANIC condemns in the strongest possible terms the unfair and disproportionate military assault by the Jewish State against the Palestinian people including women and children.
We call upon the Australian Government to condemn the systematic killing of the
Palestinian people and to do all it can on the international level to stop the Israeli aggression against the people of the Gaza Strip. The international community must actively intervene to stop this unjust and unwarranted aggression.

The Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) condemns the continuous Israeli occupation’s ferocious aggression on the Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip. ICHR calls for the international community to take an immediate action to end Israeli war crimes and collective punishments in the Gaza Strip and provide international protection for Palestinian civilians. ICHR also calls on the President of the State of Palestine to sign and ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and exert all necessary pressure to ensure the opening of the Rafah borders with Egypt for provision of medical and humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

"I am writing this as ambulance and rescue crews continue to search for bodies. Among the ones they have uncovered so far are those of 4-year-old Mohammed Nawasra, whose body was found underneath the ruins of his home in the Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, his 5-year-old brother, Nidal, and their 29-year-old mother, Sumoud Nawasra. Miriam Nawasra, 83, and Khalaf Nawasra, 29, were found alive, but critically injured. The Nawasra house in Maghazi refugee camp was targeted by an Israeli F-16 missile. No one knows why. Their home was bombed at 5:30 a.m., as the family slept".

We call on all members of the international community, particularly the United Nations, European Union and the United States, to act immediately to put an end to Israel’s deliberate targeting of the besieged Gaza Strip and its civilian population under occupation.”