British Celebrities Condemn Israeli Attacks on Gaza Strip
Singer Annie Lennox joined high-profile campaigners to call for an end to Israel's bombing of the Gaza Strip.
In an emotional speech, Annie Lennox said there had to be a different way forward.
"A few days after Christmas I came downstairs, put the television on and saw smoke pyres emanating from buildings and it shook me to the core," she said.
"I was thinking, as a mother and as a human being, how was this going to be a solution to peace?
"It's a question of human rights, human values that goes beyond Jewish, Muslim, nothing to do with any of that. There has to be a place ultimately where people come to the table."
In a strongly-worded condemnation of Israeli bombing, Jewish comedian Alexei Sayle said Israel has an idea it was being noble but was using the "psychology of the murderer" to explain the attacks.
Former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone called for the European Union and the UK to withdraw their ambassadors from Israel to signal disapproval with the "slaughter and systematic murder of innocent Arabs".
Respect MP George Galloway suggested Israel's attacks would create a new generation of radicals around the world.
"We will be very, very lucky if the explosions taking place in Gaza today don't blow up in our own face at some time in the future," he said.
Meanwhile, activist Bianca Jagger condemned the attack by Hamas against innocent Israeli citizens, but called for the international community to guarantee the immediate halt of the "disproportionate, unlawful use of force by Israel".
She added: "I would like to make an appeal to President-elect Obama to speak up.
Separately, in her other speech and blog, Annie Lennox has called the actions of the Israeli Army over the last few days “a pornography of destruction” and says that the situation will only lead to more violence.
“I have to say that I feel deeply upset and affected by the recent bombings on Gaza,” she stated today in her blog. “The Israeli army says they are justified by taking this action, in retaliation for the shelling by Hamas, but it just seems to me that this level of violence will only escalate into more horror and killings. How can it not?”