World disgusted by attack on Jerusalem school

[[[World governments issued a fresh wave of condemnation Friday of a gun attack in a Jerusalem religious school, after the Islamist group Hamas claimed responsibility for the shooting.The strongest language came from Washington, where there was anger over the scenes of joy in the streets of Gaza, where crowds of Palestinian gunmen fired into the air to celebrate Thursday's murder of eight teenagers."It was extremely disheartening to see people in the streets in Gaza and elsewhere celebrating such an attack. That is fairly disgusting, actually," White House spokesman Tony Fratto told reporters."This was a vicious attack, there is nothing that can explain away this kind of attack. But the most important thing is that the peace process continues and that the parties are committed to it," ]]]he added.Already on Thursday,US President George W. Bush had branded the attack "barbaric and vicious", leading a chorus of outrage from the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and governments around the world. Condemnation continued to roll in from all quarters on Friday, [[[but Hamas was unmoved,]]] and a senior official in the movement told AFP that it was preparing to formally claim responsibility for the attack. Hamas rules the Gaza Strip, which in the recent weeks has seen a surge in violence and more than 130 Palestinians have died as Israeli forces respond to the firing of makeshift rockets at Jewish communities.{{{{{{Earlier, Lebanese Hezbollah had said Thursday's school killings were carried out in reprisal for the death of one of the anti-Israeli militia's senior commanders, who was assassinated in a Damascus bombing on Februaury 12.But whoever sent the Palestinian gunman, 25-year-old Alaa Hisham Abu Dheim, to kill students at the Merkaz Harav Yeshiva, a theological school in mainly Jewish west Jerusalem, the reaction from around the world was similar.}}}}}}"The fatal shootings in Jerusalem are an unacceptable terrorist attack and I condemn them in as strong terms as they have been condemned by the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and others," said Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt.But while the condemnation of the attack was very clear, Bildt and others urged the parties in the Middle East peace process not to allow their anger to further disrupt attempts to push forward with dialogue."After the recent events in Gaza, we are in a very sensitive situation. It is therefore important that both parties-despite what has happened-are firmly determined to move the peace negotiations forward," he said.Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi also urged Israel to pursue peace talks with the Palestinians despite attacking the "cowardly" shooting.And a statement from the Turkish foreign ministry echoed this message, saying: "We sincerely hope this hateful attack will strengthen both sides' determination to achieve peace."Human rights group Amnesty International also condemned the school attack as "a gross abuse of international humanitarian law" but urged Israel not to react with more military action in the Palestinian territories."The lives of Palestinian civilians, who bear no responsibility for yesterday's attack in Jerusalem, should not be put in jeopardy as a result," said Malcolm Stuart, Amnesty's chief for the Middle East and North Africa.Attempts Thursday by the UN Security Council to agree a statement on the shootings fell apart amid an angry row between Israel and Libya, which wanted to also condemn Israeli attacks on Palestinian targets. But individually, most leading nations were forthright in their response.British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: "This is clearly an attempt to strike a blow at the very heart of the peace process."He added: "I think it's very important to emphasise that those people who want to stop the peace process should be stopped from doing so by the combined determination of the whole world."German Chancellor Angela Merkel was "devastated" by the attack and condemned it "in the strongest terms," a government spokesman said.French President Nicolas Sarkozy condemned what he called a "cowardly and barbarous" act, his spokesman said.He would insist on the importance of continuing Israeli-Palestinian peace talks when he meets Israeli President Shimon Peres in Paris next Monday, the spokesman added."We strongly and unreservedly condemn this terrorist act which has no justification," a statement from the Russian foreign ministry said.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080307165642.85c3xnpj&show_article=1

As in the days of Noah....