Mansour calls for 'real action' against Israel

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour said Saturday condemnation and words were not enough to stop the Israeli aggression against Gaza and called for “real action” against the Jewish state. “Enough condemnation ... what we need now is real action to stop this enemy,” Mansour told reporters prior to leaving to Cairo to take part in an Arab League meeting. The Lebanese official expressed hope that the Arab League meeting in the Egyptian capital would produce “decisive, brave and effective decisions against Israel.” “The Arab world has been taking decisions ever since the Gaza occupation of 1948, but unfortunately these decisions were never implemented. We will have to wait and see what will result in today’s meeting at the Arab League,” said Mansour. Arab foreign ministers will meet Saturday at the Cairo-based Arab League to discuss the Israeli onslaught of Gaza, three days after the Jewish state launched an offensive following the assassination of Hamas’ military chief Ahmad al-Jaabari in an aerial attack on his vehicle Wednesday. Mansour said he would also propose Arab countries in contact with Israel cut their ties with the Jewish state through expelling Israeli envoys from their countries as well as withdrawing their own ambassadors from Israel. Asked whether Arab League meeting should have been held sooner, the minister said that the Arab League convened a day prior to the attack on Gaza and thus ministers needed time to get ready to go back to Cairo again, and “that is why the meeting is being held on Saturday.” Mansour said that Lebanon was in constant coordination with its fellow Arabs and would declare its stance during the meeting. “There are a lot of steps that can be made and implemented on the ground and we are going to say that,” said Mansour. From The Daily Star