"We did not know"
a beginners guide to the
Israeli/Palestine conflict
Channel Four's Jonathan Miller reports on the methodical destruction of Gaza villages.
10-year-old Mona Samouni recalls, "The Jews told us to go to a neighbour's house and to stay there. They said if you leave we will shoot you. We stayed at our neighbours for two days with no food and drink. ... They fired the second shell directly into the house. It injured everyone. After taking cover in another part of the house, they fired a fourth shell at us. It injured us all. Some were martyred. We realized we couldn't stay in the house. We decided to leave the house. If we die, that's it. If we live, we live."
George Galloway berates the BBC for its failure to air the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal for the Palestinians of Gaza.
I spent last week in Damascus with a group of UK parliamentarians which included Lynne Jones, MP for Selly Oak. Our purpose was to meet with Khalid Meshal the Chair of the Political Bureau of Hamas. We also met with the Syrian President who was hopeful that talks with Hamas would become more widespread and thus make peace more likely. I believe that our Government's refusal to talk with Hamas is a democratic outrage and makes peace in the Middle East more difficult.
The origins of the present problems in Gaza came with the parliamentary elections in Palestine in January 2006. They were found to be free and fair by large numbers of election observers. The result was that Hamas won the election with a substantial majority, beating Fatah, the old ruling party which was widely criticised for corruption.
Israeli policy is to refuse to talk to Hamas. They constantly accuse them of being terrorists. This position is supported by the US and, to our shame, the UK and the EU. The position of the western powers is that they will not talk to Hamas until they meet three conditions: renounce violence, recognise Israel and recognise previous agreements reached between Israel and the Palestinians. It is interesting to note that Israel does not recognise the right of the Palestinians to a sovereign state, most certainly does not renounce violence, and does not recognise UN resolutions or international law in relation to its behaviour in the Palestinian Occupied Territories. This is yet another example of our double standards in relation to the Middle East.
Even worse than the refusal to talk, the UK and EU has done nothing about the fact that Israel has imposed a siege on Gaza that was steadily tightened up to the bombardment in December 2008. This means that people go hungry, lack fuel, proper medical care and other basic necessities. The siege is a collective punishment imposed on all the people of Gaza for daring to vote as they did. Collective punishments are illegal in international law.
In November, Israel's bombing broke the ceasefire that had halted the rocket attacks from Gaza and in December they bombarded Gaza for three weeks killed 1,300 people and injuring 5,300. These were mostly women and children. Israel also destroyed agricultural land, many homes and much else beside. Since the bombardment ended in mid-January, there has been limited relief to the people of Gaza.
Then in March this year there was a conference held in Egypt where £3.2billion was pledged to help Gaza rebuild. But all have said none of the money must go through the properly elected government. Hamas has asked that help be given through the international organisations working in Gaza. Some food and other essentials have been supplied but the borders are still closed and no building materials or equipment is let in. This means many people living in tents and many bodies still buried in the rubble.
When we talked to Hamas they said that they wanted peace and negotiations and the absolutely believed in democracy for the election and ejection of governments. Their answer to the three preconditions of the great powers was that they had given up the use of violence by negotiating a cease fire which Israel broke. They wanted another cease fire in return for an opening of the crossings. They made clear that if they were offered a Palestinian state on 1967 boundaries (that is the land that belongs to the Palestinians in international law) they would recognise the borders and declare a long term truce. They have also already acknowledged the previous agreements made between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
And so there is a way to peace. But no one will talk or acknowledge the Hamas concessions. This means the suffering will continue and the threat of violence and division will escalate. If only the UK and EU would stop automatically following US/Israeli policy, we could open up the space which would reduce Palestinian suffering and might help President Obama find the way to peace.
News/Awareness
STUC recommends BDS against Israel
Following the STUC delegation's visit to Palestine in March, the General Council of the Scottish Trade Union Congress passed, on 22nd April, a landmark resolution recommending Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel.
War On Want statement on Gaza
On Saturday 27 December 2008, Israel commenced a brutal assault on Gaza. The attack, which lasted nearly four weeks, has left over 1,300 Palestinians dead and thousands more injured. The United Nations has called for a war crimes investigation after Israel knowingly shelled a building where over 100 Palestinian civilians had taken shelter. The International Committee of the Red Cross has accused Israel of breaching the Geneva Conventions in preventing ambulances from rescuing civilians wounded by Israeli bombing.
This attack marked the culmination of a policy of collective punishment and killing practised by Israel against the people of Gaza over the past 18 months. Israel has imposed an illegal state of siege on Gaza and created a devastating humanitarian crisis for the 1.5 million people trapped there. The root cause of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is Israel's illegal occupation, which has raised poverty among ordinary Palestinians to the levels of sub-Saharan Africa. Yet the international community has ignored international law with respect to Israel's crimes against the Palestinian people. By rewarding Israeli aggression with economic preferences, the UK government and other EU member states have given the green light to Israel's campaign of illegal violence.
The British government's support for Israel makes it complicit in this crime. As governments around the world condemn Israel's actions, the British government refuses to condemn Israel for its attack on Gaza. The UK government supported the US block on a draft UN resolution submitted four days after the attacks began which "strongly condemns all military attacks and the excessive, disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force by Israel, the occupying power, which have led to the death and injury of scores of innocent Palestinian civilians, including women and children." The resolution calls for "an immediate ceasefire and for its full respect by both sides."
Action on Gaza
Israel's latest attack on the people of Gaza is a war crime, made possible only through the financial, military and diplomatic support Israel receives from Western states. The UK government has licensed the sale of millions of pounds worth of arms to Israel, including key components for F-16 fighter jets. The former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw previously admitted that military equipment licensed by the British government could be used in attacks on Palestinian civilians. F-16 fighter jets have been deployed against civilian populations in the current assault on Gaza.
The European Union has been seeking to upgrade political and economic relations with the state of Israel, including the possible integration of Israel into the European single market. Despite a public call from Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to EU leaders not to reward Israel for its continuing disregard of international law, the EU Council of Ministers had voted to proceed with the upgrade.
In December 2008, the European Parliament agreed to postpone its vote on the EU-Israel upgrade. According to MEPs, this decision was in response to pressure from civil society. Following a call from parliamentarians, aid agencies and other civil society organisations across Europe to halt the upgrade of political and economic relations with Israel in protest over its assault on the Palestinian people, the EU has now suspended the upgrade process. War on Want welcomes this move but it is now up to the EU to ensure that the process is stopped all together.
War on Want calls on the British government to place sanctions on the Israeli government by ending the trading of arms with Israel. War on Wants also demands that the process of upgrading the EU-Israel relations is completely halted, and that the EU-Israel Association Agreement is suspended. (Article 2 of the Agreement makes Israel's trading preferences conditional upon respect for human rights.)
There will never be a just peace in Palestine if Israel is allowed to flout international law with impunity. War on Want calls for an immediate end to Israel's blockade on Gaza, and an end to its occupation and aggression against the Palestinian people.
Links
- The Guardian: The Samouni Family - Text
- The Origin of the Palestine-Israel Conflict (PDF)
- The Hidden History of Zionism
- 1948 - Lest We Forget
- Alternative Information Center
- Amnesty International
- B’Tselem
- BADIL
- Bad News From Israel
- Bitter Lemons
- Breaking the Silence
- The Carter Center
- Electronic Intifada
- Fida Qishta's Blog
- Free Gaza Movement
- Friends of Al-Aqsa
- Gaza Siege
- Gush Shalom
- If Americans Knew
- IndyMedia Scotland
- Inter Press Service News Agency
- Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
- Jewish Peace News
- Jews Against Zionism
- Maan News Agency
- Medical Aid for Palestinians
- Muslim Aid
- Nakba 60
- Neturei Karta
- Palestine Facts
- Palestine Monitor
- Palestine Remembered
- Palestine Solidarity Campaign
- The Respect Party
- Return of the Soul
- Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign
- Stop the War Coalition
- UNOCHA
- UNRWA
- Welfare Association