LONDON, Jan 12: Foreign Secretary David Miliband speaking in the House of Commons on Monday painted a harrowing picture of the plight of Gazans enduring almost three weeks of murderous attacks by the Israeli army, but held no hope of an end to Tel Aviv’s defiance of the latest UN resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire.

He also appeared to be reluctant to call a spade a spade and hold Israel squarely responsible for launching the hostilities as he fudged the issue by blaming rocket attacks by Hamas for the start of the current war, though conceding later that the truce of June to December made no difference to the situation in Gaza as its supplies of food, fuel and medicine were restricted by Israel.

Mr Miliband showed where the British government’s sympathies lay in the current crisis when he said: “There is and can be no equivalence.” Hamas, he charged, “have shown themselves over a number of years ready to be murderous in word and deed.”

“Their motif is ‘resistance’ and their method includes terrorism,” he charged further.

Israel, he insisted was “a thriving, democratic state with independent judiciary.”

But, he argued, one consequence of the distinction between a democratic government and a terrorist organisation was that democratic governments were held to significantly higher standards, notably by their own people.

“That is one reason we supported Resolution 1860 — to uphold the standards on which Israel and the rest of us depend. As a beacon of democracy in the Middle East, Israel’s best defence is to show leadership in finding a political solution to this crisis and to comply with the standards of international humanitarian law.