Государство Израиль
REGARDING SHOOTING ATTACK BY ISRAELI ARMY ON PALESTINIAN RAFAH CAMP IN GAZA STRIP
Unofficial translation from Russian
PRESS RELEASE
According to reports that have come in, on the night of April 19-20 the Israeli army carried out a large-scale raid with tanks and helicopter gunships into Rafah, a Palestinian camp in the Gaza Strip, killing and wounding many people. The Israeli side justifies these actions by its struggle against the "terrorist infrastructure."
Russia does not question the necessity of taking effective measures to counter the threat of terrorism from wherever it may emanate. Yet when practical actions in this context lead to the killing of innocent civilians, they have most often the opposite effect. Feelings of animosity and hatred become exacerbated, which by no means contributes to the success of efforts to normalize the situation.
Moscow has repeatedly stressed that the only way for rectifying the situation is one of renewing the political dialogue and then also of completely restoring the peace process on the basis of the road map drafted by the Quartet of international mediators. It is in this spirit that the parties to the conflict should act if they genuinely want to achieve real progress in unblocking it.
April 21, 2003