Palestinian lawmaker: Gaza attacks ‘premeditated’

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A Palestinian legislator told CNN’s John Roberts that Israel’s attack’s in Gaza were premeditated to coincide with a national election.

“This is a strike against a captive civillian population and this shows that Israel is playing politics with Palestinian lives in the middle of an elections campaign,” said Hanan Ashrawi. Ashrawi is a member of Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s Third Way party.

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations sees the strikes as a last resort after Hamas has refused to cease attacks on Israeli civillians. “The hope is that Hamas will understand finally that Israel has the right to defend itself and the duty to protect its citizens,” Gabriela Shalev told CNN’s Kiran Chetry.

This video is from CNN’s American Morning, broadcast Dec. 29, 2008.

Download video via RawReplay.com