China Condemns Israel's Assassination

China strongly condemns Israel's assassination Monday of Abu Ali Mustafa, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said Tuesday.

Spokesman Zhu Bangzao expressed profound regret and grief at Mustafa's unfortunate death.

He said that China always opposes any form of terrorism, Israel's policy of tracking and killing militants and its continual assassinations of Palestinian leaders.

China hopes that the Israeli and Palestinian sides will actively cooperate with the efforts of the international community and avoid unilateral actions so as to create an appropriate atmosphere for ending Israeli-Palestinian conflicts as soon as possible and resuming peace talks, Zhu said.

UN Chief Blames Israel for Raising Tensions

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan says Israel has exacerbated the Middle East crisis and has called for international action before violence spreads to neighboring countries.

"The Israelis have raised tensions in the region to levels we have not seen in many years," Annan told reporters on Monday during an official visit to Austria.

Annan urged the international community to help bring the parties together for a new round of peace talks, warning that violence could spill over into the rest of the region if not controlled.

US Opposed to Targeted Killings

The United States remains opposed to targeted killings, The US State Department said such killings were inflaming the Middle East conflict and called on Israel to alleviate "the pressure, the hardship and the humiliations of the Palestinian people."

"We think Israel needs to understand that targeting killings of Palestinians don't end the violence, but are only inflaming an already volatile situation and making it much harder to restore calm."

"The escalation and violence in recent days in the Middle East threatens to overwhelm any chance of restoring calm and of implementing the Mitchell committee recommendations," Boucher said.

Strong Words From Israel’s Meretz Party

Yossi Sarid on Monday criticized the Israel army's targeted killing of a leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) as an escalation of the situation.

Sarid from the left-wing Meretz Party said, "The assassination of a political activist is a dangerous escalation of the situation."

"There was no great intelligence operation there. He was not hiding but was sitting in his office. I would hope that we will not start killing other political leaders in their offices," said Sarid.

Condemnation From the Arab World

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa accused Israel of engaging in "Mafia politics." Belgium, holder of the European Union's rotating presidency, said it was a "very serious act" and urged both sides to halt violence and restore dialogue

Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran also strongly condemned Israel's assassination of Mustafa that further worsen the dangerous situation of the Mideast and violate the international law. They urged the international community to condemn and stop Israeli's killing of Palestine civilians.

(China.org.cn 08/29/2001)