U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney has defended Israel's military
offensive in the Gaza Strip, but says Israel did not seek U.S.
authorization for the invasion.
Cheney told a television interviewer (on the CBS television program "Face the Nation") that Israeli leaders had warned they would not sit by while Hamas launched rockets into Israel from Gaza.
Protesters around the world Sunday called for an end to the Gaza violence.
In Lebanon, police fired tear gas and water cannons at demonstrators
near the U.S. embassy in Beirut, when they tried to enter the compound.
Thousands of others rallied outside the United Nations' headquarters in
the Lebanese capital.
More than five thousand people demonstrated in Turkey's largest city, Istanbul, demanding an end to the Israeli attacks.
In Greece, protesters burnt Israeli flags and hurled stones at the
Israeli embassy. Police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.
Protests also occurred in the United States, Indonesia, Morocco, and Australia.