5 pol parties threaten to "occupy" Israeli consulate over Gaza

Five political parties jointly, today threatened to "occupy" the Israeli consulate here on Friday to demonstrate their support for the Palestinian people.
"We have decided to occupy the Israeli consulate on Friday to show our support for the Palestinian people. We urge the people of the country to boycott all Israeli products to financially weaken them," Samajwadi Party's Maharashtra unit chief and MLA Abu Azmi told reporters.
The decision was taken at a meeting attended by representatives from SP, CPI, CPI(M), Janata Dal (S) and Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh.
Azmi said the UN Security Council had failed to take effective steps to end the conflict which has resulted in a huge civilian casualties.

"I don't understand why the UN Security Council exists in the first place if it cannot stop this violence. When Saddam Hussain killed a few people in Iraq, see what they did to him. Here civilians, hospitals and universities are being destroyed (by the Israel forces) but the UN has taken no firm steps to stop violence," he said.
He criticised the NDA government for stalling adoption of a resolution by the Rajya Sabha condemning Israel's assault on Hamas-ruled Gaza strip and said it could result in "severe economic loss" for India.

"The present day government is communal. Whenever there is a chance to stand up for Muslims, it opposes any move that could benefit the community. Here too they want to stay away and not interfere. If they show their communal face to the world, we can face a severe economic loss as India has friendly relations with many Muslim countries," he said.

Azmi said even if India is on friendly terms with both countries, a firm stand should be taken for what is right.
Maintaining that it does not want to take sides in the conflict, the government had yesterday called for talks to end it but forestalled a resolution in the Rajya Sabha as demanded by the opposition.