Arab Parliament calls for halting the Gaza war

The Arab Parliament on Tuesday expressed profound concern at the escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza due to the continuous Israeli war and flagrant and inhumane siege imposed on the Palestinian people.
The parliament, in a statement released in Cairo, denounced Israel's continuous military escalation, employment of destructive arms, killing of innocent civilians including children, women and elderly, the siege imposition on Gaza and the repressive and arbitrary measures, practiced in the West Bank.
It also voiced condemnation of the dangerous and escalating Israeli "measures to judaize the holy city of Jerusalem," simultaneously with continuing construction of settlements and bids to wipe off the Arab identity of Palestine, and that by bulldozing houses and ravaging cultivated fields as well as reinforcing the occupation of the Palestinians' territories.
The Arab Parliament called on the United Nations Security Council to take decisions and measures "to halt Israel's aggression on Gaza strip and ensure its non-recurrence," holding it fully responsible for all the inflicted losses in properties and souls.
It praised a resolution, issued by the United Nations Human Rights Council, on July 23, and called for its speedy implementation, particularly with respect of dispatching, hastily, an independent inquiry commission to Gaza to investigate human rights' breaches. Moreover, it appealed to the international community to shoulder its responsibilities, partly, by immediately starting re-construction of Gaza, coercing Israel to reopen the crossing points, lifting the siege and halting the offensives on the enclave.
"The Zionist entity controls six passageways and imposes unjust conditions for entering and exiting for the Palestinian citizens," the statement said.
The Arab Parliament expressed support for the Egyptian initiative to halt the fighting, urging the two sides to accept it and pave the way for an enduring calm. It supported the Palestinians' call to place the Palestinian territories under international protection, grant the Palestinian state membership in all UN agencies in addition to joining the International Criminal Court.
It called on foreign and Arab parliaments, unions and authorities to back the Palestinian people and help in the efforts to stop the attacks and urged the Arab states and the international community to offer instant humanitarian aid for the Gazans.
The Arab Parliament condemned "the escalating explosions, killings, terrorist acts, perpetrated by the terrorist organization," the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (also known as the Islamic state), targeting civilians in Syria and Iraq.
"This organization is involved in criminal and terrorist actions," it said, urging the international community to take collective action against this group.
National consensus is a necessity in Iraq, the parliament statement said, and all Iraqis need to joins hands for safeguarding of the country's unity.