Press TV - The Arab League (AL) has condemned Tel Avivs crimes against humanity in Gaza, demanding that the United Nations and the International Criminal Court (ICC) launch investigations into Israels recent killings of unarmed Palestinian protesters.
The pan-Arab body convened at the regional groupings headquarters in Cairo on Tuesday on an ad hoc basis to address Israels attacks on anti-occupation Palestinian demonstrators on March 30.
Gazans on that day marched to the fence separating the enclave from Israeli-occupied lands at the start of a six-week protest, dubbed The Great March of Return.
The mass protest, however, turned violent when Israeli military forces used lethal force to disperse the crowd. Besides the 18 killed, some 1,500 Gazans were injured.
Israel had previously deployed military vehicles and special forces, including 100 snipers, to Gazas border. The regimes forces had also been authorized to shoot at the demonstrators.
The AL condemns the Israeli obvious, systematic, and large-scale crimes against the defenseless Palestinian civilians that are considered war crimes and crimes against humanity according to the international humanitarian law and the international human rights law, a final statement said.
The Arab League also backed a request by the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement to sue Israel at the ICC for its crimes against Gazans.
Addressing the meeting, Arab League Secretary General Ahmad Aboul Gheit called on the United Nations Security Council to form an international commission to investigate Israels killings.
Going to the UN General Assembly to provide protection to the Palestinian people and form an investigation commission will be an option if the Security Council continues to fail, he added.
The Security Council held an emergency meeting over the mass killings by Israeli forces on Saturday, but failed to condemn the regime as the US hindered a final statement against its ally.
Aboul Gheits second-in-command Saeed Abu Ali stressed that the deaths had been caused after Israel deployed weapons against unarmed people.
Also addressing the meeting, Palestinian Ambassador to Cairo Diab al-Louh said the US is encouraging Israel to continue committing heinous crimes against defenseless Palestinians.
Israel has occupied more than 60 percent of the West Bank, builds illegal settlements, and continues to impose a crippling blockade on Gaza, he added.
The regime has defended its bloodshed in Gaza and even threatened a more violent response to future protests on Gazas border.
The Israeli minister for military affairs, Avigdor Lieberman, has rejected calls for a probe into the killing of Palestinians by the regime forces, saying, We shall not cooperate with any commission of inquiry.
The Palestinian protests are to reach their high point on May 15, the anniversary of Israels Western-backed war of 1948, during which it expelled Palestinians from their homeland before proclaiming existence.
