Thu, January 01, 2009
RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian Foreign Ministers Celso Amorim Wednesday phoned U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the situation of the Gaza Strip.
During the conversation with Rice, Amorim mentioned the possibility of holding a meeting to discuss the Middle East peace like the one that was held in Annapolis, the United States, in 2007, according to the press office of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry.
Rice thanked Brazil's interest in reinforcing the Annapolis process, but she declined to give an answer on whether to accept or reject Amorim's suggestion, said the office.
Also on Wednesday Amorim called Ban and voiced Brazil's willingness to aid the Middle East peace process under the UN leadership.
Amorim and Ban discussed the possibility of a joint action to send humanitarian aid to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
On Tuesday, as requested by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Amorim called his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner, his Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Aboul Gheit and President of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas to call for an emergent meeting for discussing the Israeli raids on Gaza.
About 390 people have been killed and 1,900 others injured by Israel's air strikes on the Gaza Strip since Saturday.
