Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik announced Wednesday at a special session of the Knesset Plenum that she plans to send a group of MKs to examine the situation on the ground in the embattled Caucasus state of Georgia, where a delicate cease-fire is currently under way.
Smoke rises from a Georgian army base outside Gori.
Photo: AP
"I have been considering throughout this period if I should call the Knesset into session to discuss Georgia," said Itzik.
"I feel...that we are living in a mad world. Two events are capturing our attention recently; on one hand, the power of man as is seen in the Olympic Games in Beijing where we see wonderful abilities of humanity…but on the other hand, we see the same humanity taking part in a new war and adding to the extending list of unnecessary wars. Once again we have returned to horrifying pictures of killing, of casualties and of convoys of refugees."
Itzik said that MK Avraham Michaeli (Shas), himself an immigrant from Georgia, had requested that she bring the issue of the war in Georgia to the forefront of Knesset activity. Michaeli, the only Georgian-born member of the Knesset, is also the chairman of the Georgian-Israeli Friendship Union.
Itzik also said that Israel is still awaiting an answer from the Georgian government as to what it could do to help the situation in Georgia, particularly in rebuilding damage from the war.
An estimated 158,600 people were forced to flee their homes in the course of the fighting, which came to an end almost a week ago. Russian troops are still present in Georgia, and there have been recent reports that civilians have been subject to looting.
For the first time since the beginning of the war, UN humanitarian services managed to reach the city of Guri earlier this week.
"We will [visit Georgia] without being drawn to the epicenters of the conflict," Itzik said. "We will [visit] because we are friends of the Georgian people."
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