What can one say when so many children are killed when U

The presentation, which begins at 2:30 PM ET, will bewebcast and can be heard via the following link: http:// CONN-G Conns, Inc., BeaumontChairman and CEOThomas J Frank, 409-832-1696 Ext 3218 Copyright Business Wire 2009. By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Pope Benedict on Thursday condemned the use of violence by Israel and Hamas Islamists in Gaza a day after one of his senior aides angered Jews by calling the strip "a big concentration camp". "Once again I would repeat that military options are no solution and that violence, wherever it comes from and whatever form it takes, must be firmly condemned," he said in a speech to diplomats from some 170 countries accredited to the Vatican. In the French-language speech about the world situation, he lamented "a renewed outbreak of violence provoking immense damage and suffering for the civilian population" and urged "the rejection of hatred, acts of provocation and the use of arms". While the pope seemed at pains to make his speech diplomatically even-handed calling for the respect of the legitimate aspirations of both sides one of his senior aides was not so delicate with his comments about the siege of Gaza. On Wednesday, his point man for justice and peace issues delivered the Vatican's toughest criticism of Israel since the latest Middle East crisis began, calling Gaza a "big concentration camp" in an interview with an Italian online newspaper "Defenceless populations are always the ones who pay. Look at the conditions in Gaza: more and more, it resembles a big concentration camp", said Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Vatican's Council for Justice and Peace.

More than 660 Palestinians have been killed since Israel started bombarding the Gaza enclave on Dec 27 with the aim of halting Hamas rocket attacks. Eleven Israeli soldiers have died and three Israeli civilians have been killed in rocket attacks from Gaza since the offensive began. "HOLOCAUST DENIER" The Simon Wiesenthal Center denounced Martino, whose informal title is Vatican "justice minister", and compared him to a Holocaust denier. "These remarks are untrue, distort the memory of the Holocaust and are only used against Israel by terrorist organizations and Holocaust deniers," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean of the center. "The cardinal should know that however difficult conditions may be in Gaza, the one thing it surely is not is a concentration camp where Jews were brought to die either by slave labor, starvation, or in most cases burned in the crematorium," he said. I condemn them" but forcefully criticised Israel for the attack on a U.N school.

"What can one say when so many children are killed, when U.N. schools are bombed even though (Israel) has technology that allows weapons to pinpoint even an ant on the ground" Martino said in La Repubblica. The pope is due to visit Holy Land sites in Jordan, Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank in May.. Permalink Tweet This This article is also featured on JoeSportsFan .