Jan. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Demonstrations in the Muslim world against Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip spread as Arab leaders increased diplomatic efforts to bring an end to the violence that has entered a second week.

In Jordan, Iran, Kuwait, Lebanon, Yemen and Turkey, thousands of protesters took to the streets as Israel intensified its ground invasion which began last night, al-Arabiya television said. Tens of thousands demonstrated in Istanbul and burnt a dummy carrying an Israeli flag, shouting anti-Israeli slogans, CNN Turk reported.

Israel’s incursion followed a week of aerial bombardment aimed at stopping Hamas from firing rockets at Israel. About 500 Palestinians and five Israelis have died in the violence. The strikes on Gaza, where about 1.4 million people live on a strip that is about 40 kilometers (25 miles) by 14 kilometers, triggered global calls for restraint.

The Israeli government rejected Dec. 31 a French proposal for a temporary cease fire with Hamas, saying it would be a mistake to give the movement time to rearm and regroup. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned Israel for using “excessive force.” A quarter of the fatalities in Gaza were civilians, said Chris Gunness, a spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Work Agency.

In Amman, some 4,000 protesters demonstrated peacefully outside the Jordanian parliament, calling on the government to recall the country’s ambassador in Israel.

The demonstrators carried green Hamas flags, chanting: “With our soul, with our blood, we will defend you Qassam.” The Qassam Brigades are the military wing of the Hamas movement. Jordan is the second Arab state to make peace with Israel after Egypt.

‘Oppressed’ Public

“The Arab public is generally oppressed and has very little opportunity to express itself, and the Palestinian cause is one of those issues which you are allowed to protest about,” said Paul Salem, director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Middle East Center in Beirut.

The office of President Hosni Mubarak said in a statement today that the United Nations Security Council and the so-called Middle East Quartet -- the EU, U.S., Russia and the UN -- should take measures “to confront the humanitarian consequence of this aggression on the Palestinian people in Gaza.” Jordan’s King Abdullah said the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip has deteriorated to the point where “silence is not acceptable.”

“Arab leaders have become more vociferous against the Israeli attacks since the ground war began,” said Emad Gad, a political analyst at the Cairo-based Al-Ahram Center for Strategic Studies. “But Arabs are also more divided than ever and its unlikely that a country like Egypt will go so far as to recall its ambassador from Israel.”

Egypt Controversy

Egypt has been accused by protesters on the streets of the Middle East of collusion with Israel’s offensive in Gaza because of its reluctance to open its borders with Gaza. Hamas spokesman Fawzy Barhoum said on Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television after Israel began its strikes that Egyptian officials told the militant Islamic group that Israel wouldn’t strike any time soon, suggesting that Egypt misled them. Egypt denied the charge.

Egypt said it would continue efforts to end Israeli attacks and restore a cease fire between Hamas and Israel which expired Dec. 19. The presidency also called upon the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian factions to quit quarreling with each other and to act as one to confront the Israeli attack.

Tougher Measures

Others in the region have called for tougher measures to be taken against Israel. Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Israel is violating international law and called for sanctions against the country, PressTV reported on Jan. 2. Iran’s Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani told lawmakers in Tehran that the Gaza Strip will become a “cemetery” for Israeli soldiers engaged in a ground offensive in the territory.

“This is more than collateral damage,” Lebanese American University Professor Amal Saad-Ghorayeb said. “Israel is deliberating targeting Palestinian civilians because this is one means of pressuring Palestinians against Hamas.”

Mark Regev, spokesman for Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel doesn’t “see the civilian population of Gaza as our enemy” in an interview aired on Sky News. “We’re being as surgical as we can be. Our sole military goal is to safeguard the people of southern Israel.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Massoud A. Derhally in Amman, Jordan at mderhally@bloomberg.netMahmoud Kassem in Cairo at mkassem1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 4, 2009 10:27 EST