The Alternative Information Center (Palestine/Israel) : "Italian NGO Opposition to Statements Made by Italian PM Berlusconi in Israel"

Italian NGO Opposition to Statements Made by Italian PM Berlusconi in Israel

Following the three-day visit last week (1-3 February) of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territories, many voices of protest  were raised against his declarations and unconditional support for Israeli government policy. On 9 February, Berlusconi's words against the Iranian president Ahmadinejad—comparing him to Hitler—provoked the violent reaction of Iranian protesters outside the Italian embassy in Tehran. Basiji militants were reported to have shouted slogans like “Death to Italy” and “Death to Berlusconi.”
In Italy, the justification for the attack against Gaza formulated by Berlusconi in front of the Knesset, was in the center of the debate. The NGO Platform for the Middle East—in a press release published in Rome on 6 February 2010—expressed its “strong objection to and concern about the declarations made by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi during his visit to Israel and Bethlehem; in particular the declarations made by the Prime Minister concerning the latest military aggression carried out by the Israeli army in Gaza, defined as a 'fair reaction to the missiles of Hamas launched from Gaza.’”
Regarding Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip, the Italian association network—which gathers more than 25 non-governmental associations working in the Middle East—highlights the relevance of the Goldstone Report approved by the UN General Assembly and states that “while the United Nations investigation is still in progress, the Israeli government has admitted to the use of white phosphorus, and, indirectly, to the unjustifiable destruction of civilian buildings by compensating the United Nations with 10.5 million dollars for damage caused to UNRWA structures.”
Strongly dissociating themselves from Berlusconi's declarations, associations harshly criticized the normalization in economic and commercial relations between Italy and Israel in the framework of the ongoing of the siege of Gaza, the repression of the Palestinian non-violent popular resistance against the Separation Wall construction, and the land confiscation in the West Bank. 
The Italian NGO Platform concludes its statement calling for “the mobilization of Italian civil society and greater consideration toward the Middle Eastern issue” and “urgent action on the part of the international community for a full recognition of the rights of the Palestinian people as defined by international law and the numerous United Nations Resolutions approved from 1948 to the present day”.
 
Neither Silvio Berlusconi nor any Italian government member replied to the document.
 
http://www.alternativenews.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2448:italian-ngo-opposition....

Les articles et autres textes publiés ne reflètent pas obligatoirement les opinions de l'association "Comité Justice et Paix en Palestine et au Proche-Orient du 5ème (CJPP5)", qui dénie toute responsabilité dans leurs contenus, lesquels n'engagent que leurs auteurs ou leurs traducteurs. Nous sommes attentifs à toute proposition d'ajouts ou de corrections.
Le contenu de ce site peut être librement diffusé aux seules conditions suivantes, impératives : mentionner clairement l'origine des articles et autres textes, le nom du site et/ou du journal, ainsi que celui des traducteurs.