Palestinian Solidarity Campaign
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NOVEMBER 1, 2007
1:21 PM
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CONTACT: Palestinian Solidarity Campaign
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British Government Must Use All Available Pressure to End Israel’s Attack on Essential Fuel Supplies to The Gaza Strip
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GAZA - November 1 - On Sunday 28 October, Israel began to reduce petrol and diesel supplies to the Gaza Strip, increasing hardship to a people already facing a humanitarian crisis. The previous decision to restrict electricity supplies had been described by UN General Secretary, Ban Ki-moon, as “punitive and unacceptable” and PSC welcomes the intervention of the Israeli attorney general to overturn a decision that should have been unthinkable. However, the plan to cut power supplies is only on hold until the end of the week and, according to the Jerusalem Post on 31 October, an Israeli defence official claimed ‘in the end, the sanction will be implemented’, and that ‘there might, however, be some changes to the dose and to the amount of time it is done for.’
The attorney general still finds it acceptable to cut fuel supplies, which are already reduced due to border closures. On Sunday, the Palestinian fuel authority reported that petrol and diesel deliveries to Gaza were down by more than 40 per cent. This will further harm ordinary civilians who are struggling to live with unprecedented levels of poverty and unemployment: over the past months UN building projects have been frozen, factories and businesses have closed, agricultural exports have been frozen, and fishing banned, all severely affecting the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people.
The action of further restricting fuel supplies, which Israel states it is taking in response to rocket attacks against Israel, is collective punishment against the entire Gazan civilian population. Israel is also threatening to increase its military action against Gaza, with Defence Minister Ehud Barak saying, “the time is approaching when we’ll have to undertake a broad operation in Gaza”.
Despite the withdrawal of troops and settlers, Israel still occupies the Gaza strip. In his report in August 2007, John Dugard stated, “Arguments that Israel ceased its occupation of Gaza in 2005 following the evacuation of its settlements and the withdrawal of its troops take no account of the fact that Israel retains effective control over Gaza by means of its control over Gaza’s external borders, airspace, territorial waters, population registry, tax revenues and governmental functions. The effectiveness of this control is emphasized by regular military incursions and rocket attacks. Israel’s conduct in respect of Gaza must therefore be measured against the standards of international humanitarian law and human rights”
Prime Minister Gordon Brown should therefore use every possible avenue to pressure Israel to abide by these obligations, but has so far shown an unwillingness to do so. He failed to use the opportunity of his meeting with Ehud Olmert in London on Tuesday 23 October to call on him to overturn the Israeli cabinet’s definition of Gaza as ‘hostile territory’ and end Israel’s illegal actions against the Palestinians. Gordon Brown strongly supported the use of economic sanctions against the Iranian government as a powerful and effective tool, but made no similar references to placing economic sanctions on Israel to abide by international law and cease their human rights abuses of Palestinians.
PSC asks its members to urge their MPs to raise this matter urgently with the Prime Minister, and to ask the government to demand of Israel:
- n end to the Israeli cabinet definition of Gaza as ‘hostile territory’
- and end to the cutting of fuel supplies, which are collective punishment of a population already facing a humanitarian crisis
- the immediate full reopening of border crossings
- the release of all Palestinian parliamentarians still under detention by Israel
PSC also calls for the suspension of the EU-Israel association agreement until Israel complies with international law.
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