Tutu urges Israel to lift Gaza blockade

UN envoy Archbishop Desmond Tutu, concluding a fact-finding mission to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip yesterday, condemned as a "massacre" the killing of 18 members of a Palestinian family by Israeli shelling in 2006.
At a news conference, Tutu said Israel's contention that a technical fault caused the shells to hit two homes in the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, a border area where fighters fire rockets at southern Israel, "fell short of accountability".
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate planned to present a report about the incident to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva at a session in September. Israel has not cooperated with the mission, accusing the council of being biased against it.
"We are at the stage of shock ... by what we subsequently heard from the survivors of the

November [2006] Beit Hanoun massacre," Tutu said.

The South African cleric, who was awarded the Nobel prize in 1985 for his non-violent struggle against apartheid, said a main aim of the visit was to "make recommendations to protect Palestinian civilians from further Israeli assaults."
He also urged fighters to stop launching rockets at Israel.

"from: reuters & gulfnews"