Ban demands Israel, Hamas stop fighting

UNITED NATIONS - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday issued his strongest call yet to Israel and Hamas to stop the fighting and abide by a UN Security Council resolution that would ensure the delivery of relief supplies to the besieged people in the Gaza Strip.
"To both sides, I say: Just stop, now," Ban told a press conference at UN headquarters in New York as he prepares to leave Tuesday night on a visit to seven Middle East nations and Palestinian territories, ending the trip in Kuwait, where he will attend a previously scheduled Arab economic forum.
Ban has been urging Israel and Hamas to abide by Resolution 1860, which called for an immediate, durable and fully respected ceasefire. "Too many people have died. There has been too much civilian suffering. Too many people, Israelis and Palestinians, live in daily fear of their lives. And in Gaza, the very foundation of society is being destroyed: people's homes, civic infrastructure, public health facilities and schools."
The 15-nation council adopted the resolution with a 14-0 vote, with the United States abstaining. "We have a Security Council resolution demanding an immediate and enduring ceasefire," Ban said. "In the name of humanity and international law, this resolution must be observed."
Ban said he would fly to Cairo to attend talks being sponsored by the Egyptian government to work out a ceasefire in Gaza. He then will visit Jordan, Israel, Palestinian territories, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria and Kuwait.
"At each stop, I will repeat my call for an immediate and durable ceasefire, and insist that Security Council resolution 1860 be respected in full," Ban said.
He will also demand that governments in the region ensure urgent humanitarian aid to Gaza residents, re-opening of the crossings into Gaza, protection of the civilian population and strengthening of border security in Gaza.
The South Korean UN secretary-general's predecessor, Kofi Annan, emerged as a key mediator in the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. He helped broker a cease-fire and the deployment of UN peacekeepers.
Diplomats at the United Nations say that Ban is less charismatic than Annan but that his brand of "quiet diplomacy" might be effective in the current crisis.
They say he proved an able mediator with the military junta in Myanmar after a devastating cyclone there last year and with Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in urging him to speed up deployment of UN-African Union peacekeepers in Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur region.
Ban, who will return to New York on January 20, the day Barack Obama is installed in the White House, said he hoped to meet the incoming U.S. president as soon as possible.
He said he would like to reaffirm to Obama his hope that he would treat the Middle East as a priority. Obama said on Sunday he would begin the search for Middle East peace immediately.