I express deep concern about the latest conflicts in the Middle East which recently have been escalating dangerously, coming close to an open war with incalculable consequences for the region, but also for peace and stability in the world, read the statement.
Croatia consistently advocates the settlement of all outstanding issues through negotiations and peacefully, and sees a lasting solution to the years-long crisis in the Middle East, as I underlined in my talk before the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, through the exercise of Israel's right to live in peace and safety as well as the Palestinians' right to their own state, read the statement.
Neither of those rights, nor the struggle for their exercise, can justify the use of force, be it unselective terrorist attacks on civilian targets or inappropriate armed responses to such attacks, which are transforming into an undeclared war against the state from whose territory they are being launched, Mesic said.
He supported a statement which the top representatives of the eight major industrialised states issued about the Middle East conflicts at their G8 summit in St Petersburg over the weekend.
Mesic said it was imperative to achieve three goals in the shortest possible time.
First -- a complete ceasefire, second -- opening negotiations with a view to avoiding every possibility of the renewal of similar conflicts in the future, and third -- establishing who is behind the actions which led to the latest escalation and who enabled the escalation through arms deliveries as well as taking measures to prevent third parties, either states or the protagonists of global terrorism, from interfering in any way in the Middle East crisis in the future, read the statement.