[progchat_action] Gaza: An Israeli Call for Urgent Action
Michael Givel
Written by AIC, Bat Tsafon, Gush Shalom, ICAHD, PHR, Women's Coalition
for Peace January 21, 2008
http://www.alternativenews.org/news/english/gaza-an-israeli-call-for-
rgent-action-20080121.html
We, the Israeli organizations signed below, deplore the decision by
the Israeli government to cut off vital supplies of electricity and
fuel (and therefore water, since the pumps cannot work), as well as
essential foodstuffs, medicines and other humanitarian supplies to the
civilian population of Gaza. Such an action constitutes a clear and
unequivocal crime against humanity.
Prof. John Dugard, the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the
Palestinian Territories, called the Israeli government's actions
'serious war crimes' for which its political and military officials
should be prosecuted and punished. The killing of more than 40
civilians this past week violates, he said, 'the strict prohibition on
collective punishment contained in the Fourth Geneva Convention. It
also violates one of the basic principles of international
humanitarian law that military action must distinguish between
military targets and civilian targets.' Indeed, the very legal
framework invoked by the Israeli government to carry out this illegal
and immoral act-declaring Gaza a 'hostile entity' within a 'conflict
short of war'-has absolutely no standing in international law.
We call on the Secretary General of the UN, Mr. Ban Ki- Moon, to lead
the Security Council to a decisive decision to end the siege on Gaza
when it meets in emergency session on Wednesday.
We call on the governments of the world, and in particular the
American government and the European Parliament, to censure Israel's
actions and, in light of recent attempts to revive the diplomatic
process, to end all attacks on civilians, including the continuing
demolition of Palestinian homes at an alarming rate.
We call upon the Jews of the world in whose name the Israeli
government purports to speak, and upon their rabbis and communal
leaders in particular, to speak out unequivocally against this offense
to the very moral core of Jewish values.
And we call upon the peoples of the world to let their officials and
leaders know of their repudiation of this cruel, illegal and immoral
act-an act that stands out in its cruelty even in an already
oppressive Israeli Occupation.
We condemn attacks on all civilians, and we acknowledge the suffering
of the residents of Sderot. Still, those attacks do not justify the
massive disproportionality of Israeli sanctions over a million and
half civilians of Gaza, in particular in light of Israel's oppressive
40-year occupation. Such violations of international law by a
government are especially egregious and must be denounced and punished
if the very system of human rights and international law is to be
preserved.
The Israeli government's decision to punish Gaza's civilian
population, with all the human suffering that entails, constitutes
State Terrorism against innocent people. Only when Israeli
policy-makers are held accountable for their actions and international
law upheld, will a just peace be possible in the Middle East.
Signed,
The Alternative Information Center * Bat Tsafon * Gush Shalom *
The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) * Physicians
for Human Rights * The Women's Coalition for Peace
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