(Adds Senator Kerry remarks) BRUSSELS, Jan 12 (Reuters) - The EU declared on Monday it was ready to organise a donors' conference urgently for Gaza and a senior U.S. official said the United States should take part and press a major Palestinian humanitarian initiative. A statement by the Czech Presidency of the European Union said such a conference should address both the humanitarian needs of Gaza inhabitants caused by the conflict with Israel and long-term reconstruction projects. "Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg is prepared to call an international donors' conference," it said in a statement. "The Czech presidency is prepared to assume this task as soon as possible." U.S. Senator John Kerry, incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committte, told Reuters in an interview: "There needs to be a major Palestinian humanitarian initiative. And we should take part in that, Israel should, the world should." Asked if the United States should attend a donors' conference if one is organized by the EU, Kerry said, "I think absolutely the United States should take part in a donors' conference, be involved." Kerry, a Masschusetts Democrat, was beaten by President George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential election. The EU gave no precise date for a conference, adding that Schwarzenberg believed that "now is the moment to seriously consider steps to be taken as soon as a ceasefire is reached". The Czech Republic took over the rotating six-month presidency of the EU from France on Jan. 1. (Reporting by Mark John and Jan Lopatka; editing by Dale Hudson and Ralph Boulton)
Israeli reservists prepare to cross the border into the northern Gaza Strip January 12, 2009. An Israeli military spokesman said army reservists had been thrown into the campaign that Israel launched ...
