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An Open Letter from Gaza: Two Years After the Massacre, a Demand for Justice
Besieged Gaza, Palestine
27. December.2010
We, the Palestinians of the Besieged Gaza Strip, on this day, two years on from Israel's genocidal attack on our families, our houses, our roads, our factories and our schools, are saying enough inaction, enough discussion, enough waiting -- the time is now to hold Israel to account for its ongoing crimes against us. On the 27th of December 2008, Israel began an indiscriminate bombardment of the Gaza Strip. The assault lasted 22 days, killing 1,417 Palestinians, 352 of them children, according to mainstream human rights organizations. For a staggering 528 hours, Israeli Occupation Forces let loose their US-supplied F15s, F16s, Merkava Tanks, internationally prohibited white phosphorous, and bombed and invaded the small Palestinian coastal enclave that is home to 1.5 million, of whom 800,000 are children and over 80 percent UN registered refugees. Around 5,300 remain permanently wounded.
This devastation exceeded in savagery all previous massacres suffered in Gaza, such as the 21 children killed in Jabalia in March 2008 or the 19 civilians killed sheltering in their house in the Beit Hanoun Massacre of 2006. The carnage even exceeded the attacks in November 1956 in which Israeli troops indiscriminately rounded up and killed 275 Palestinians in the southern town of Khan Younis and 111 more in Rafah.
Since the Gaza massacre of 2009, world citizens have undertaken the responsibility to pressure Israel to comply with international law, through a proven strategy of boycott, divestment and sanctions. As in the global BDS movement that was so effective in ending the apartheid South African regime, we urge people of conscience to join the BDS call made by over 170 Palestinian organizations in 2005. As in South Africa the imbalance of power and representation in this struggle can be counterbalanced by a powerful international solidarity movement with BDS at the forefront, holding Israeli policy makers to account, something the international governing community has repeatedly failed to do. Similarly, creative civilian efforts such as the Free Gaza boats that broke the siege five times, the Gaza Freedom March, the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, and the many land convoys must never stop their siege-breaking, highlighting the inhumanity of keeping 1.5 million Gazans in an open-air prison.
Two years have now passed since Israel's gravest of genocidal acts that should have left people in no doubt of the brutal extent of Israel's plans for the Palestinians. The murderous navy assault on international activists aboard the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in the Mediterranean Sea magnified to the world the cheapness Israel has assigned to Palestinian llife for so long. The world knows now, yet two years on nothing has changed for Palestinians.
The Goldstone Report came and went: despite its listing count after count of international law contraventions, Israeli "war crimes" and "possible crimes against humanity," the European Union, the United Nations, the Red Cross, and all major Human Rights Organizations have called for an end to the illegal, medieval siege, it carries on unabated. On 11th November 2010 UNRWA head John Ging said, "There's been no material change for the people on the ground here in terms of their status, the aid dependency, the absence of any recovery or reconstruction, no economy...The easing, as it was described, has been nothing more than a political easing of the pressure on Israel and Egypt."
On the 2nd of December, 22 international organizations including Amnesty, Oxfam, Save the Children, Christian Aid, and Medical Aid for Palestinians produced the report ‘Dashed Hopes, Continuation of the Gaza Blockade' calling for international action to force Israel to unconditionally lift the blockade, saying the Palestinians of Gaza under Israeli siege continue to live in the same devastating conditions. Only a week ago Human Rights Watch published a comprehensive report "Separate and Unequal" that denounced Israeli policies as Apartheid, echoing similar sentiments by South African anti-apartheid activists.
We Palestinians of Gaza want to live at liberty to meet Palestinian friends or family from Tulkarem, Jerusalem or Nazareth; we want to have the right to travel and move freely. We want to live without fear of another bombing campaign that leaves hundreds of our children dead and many more injured or with cancers from the contamination of Israel's white phosphorous and chemical warfare. We want to live without the humiliations at Israeli checkpoints or the indignity of not providing for our families because of the unemployment brought about by the economic control and the illegal siege. We are calling for an end to the racism that underpins all this oppression.
We ask: when will the world's countries act according to the basic premise that people should be treated equally, regardless of their origin, ethnicity or colour -- is it so far-fetched that a Palestinian child deserves the same human rights as any other human being? Will you be able to look back and say you stood on the right side of history or will you have sided with the oppressor?
We, therefore, call on the international community to take up its responsibility to protect the Palestinian people from Israel's heinous aggression, immediately ending the siege with full compensation for the destruction of life and infrastructure visited upon us by this explicit policy of collective punishment. Nothing whatsoever justifies the intentional policies of savagery, including the severing of access to the water and electricity supply to 1.5 million people. The international conspiracy of silence towards the genocidal war taking place against the more than 1.5 million civilians in Gaza indicates complicity in these war crimes.
We also call upon all Palestine solidarity groups and all international civil society organizations to demand:
- An end to the siege that has been imposed on the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as a result of their exercise of democratic choice.
- The protection of civilian lives and property, as stipulated in International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law such as The Fourth Geneva Convention.
- The immediate release of all political prisoners.
- That Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip be immediately provided with financial and material support to cope with the immense hardship that they are experiencing
- An end to occupation, Apartheid and other war crimes.
- Immediate reparations and compensation for all destruction carried out by the Israeli Occupation Forces in the Gaza Strip.
Boycott, Divest and Sanction. Join the many international trade unions, universities, supermarkets and artists and writers who refuse to entertain Apartheid Israel. Speak out for Palestine, for Gaza, and crucially ACT. The time is now.
Besieged Gaza, Palestine
27.December.2010
List of signatories:
General Union for Public Services Workers
General Union for Health Services Workers
University Teachers' Association
Palestinian Congregation for Lawyers
General Union for Petrochemical and Gas Workers
General Union for Agricultural Workers
Union of Women's Work Committees
Union of Synergies-Women Unit
The One Democratic State Group
Arab Cultural Forum
Palestinian Students' Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel
Association of Al-Quds Bank for Culture and Info
Palestine Sailing Federation
Palestinian Association for Fishing and Maritime
Palestinian Network of Non-Governmental Organizations
Palestinian Women Committees
Progressive Students' Union
Medical Relief Society
The General Society for Rehabilitation
General Union of Palestinian Women
Afaq Jadeeda Cultural Centre for Women and Children
Deir Al-Balah Cultural Centre for Women and Children
Maghazi Cultural Centre for Children
Al-Sahel Centre for Women and Youth
Ghassan Kanfani Kindergartens
Rachel Corrie Centre, Rafah
Rafah Olympia City Sisters
Al Awda Centre, Rafah
Al Awda Hospital, Jabaliya Camp
Ajyal Association, Gaza
General Union of Palestinian Syndicates
Al Karmel Centre, Nuseirat
Local Initiative, Beit Hanoun
Union of Health Work Committees
Red Crescent Society Gaza Strip
Beit Lahiya Cultural Centre
Al Awda Centre, Rafah
28 Comments so far
Show AllI was born in 1944. Among my earliest memories is the cry, "Never again." I never thought this applied only to jews, I always believed it applied to all people, everywhere. I've read the Goldstone Report, Finklestein, Pappe and Chomsky. I intend to read Said, R. Khalidi, and W. Khalidi, and more. U.S. policy toward Palestine has been despicable.
I would be honored if you were to add my name to your list of signatories.
Michael S. Moore
Michael, I believe you and finally won me over. So you do come here in CD and read what we had said about you. You got to help not only them but "US.” PLEASE. We lost our home and no one cares and many more million too is going to loss their home and still no one cares.
SIVA: I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure the film maker Michael Moore was born in l954. So unless it's a typo, I would not be certain they are the same party.
When the U.S. empire begins to fall on its own sword, Israel will lose the one ally that's allowed it to operate with a sense of impunity. By my guess, we're looking at 2013-2015 on that one... eventually Justice overcomes everything that stands in its way. (At least until the next battle approaches.)
Siouxrose
Thanks, I wish I could edit or delete my post. You may be correct, I failed to notice "1944." Sometimes CD allows you to delete using edit to remove your post even after a few days. I guess not this time and this article.
Getting back to the topic, there can be no Justice in Gaza or anywhere, until the US come to term with it Foreign policy treating everyone equal and in the same level playing field. Probably the most important the removal Israel Lobby - AIPAC. It will never happen, even in the distance future. I may be wrong, who could foresee the disintegration of the USSR and the changed in China way back in the 60's?
The new American Jewish lobby, J-Street, agrees with every complaint made about Israel's crimes against the Palestinians, including those who are Israeli citizens.
In the two or so years of their existence, they have succeeded in educating at least some members of Congress, ones who have not been THOROUGHLY propagandized by AIPAC. They seek a future in which both Israel and Palestine are free and sovereign states, with justice for the Palestinians a key component.
J-Street doubts, as do I, that the so-called "peace process" will ever lead to peace. They recommend an internationally-imposed return to the pre-1967 borders, with recognition of a sovereign Palestinian state, and international enforcement of those borders.
See their website, www.jstreet.org.
If you're someone interested in seeing that Palestinians live alongside Israelis with dignity and integrity, I would caution advertising for this group that at it's core promotes Israeli interests. It is their contention that Israel is doing more damage to their image by their actions; ultimately J-Street is concerned with the image of Israel.
There are far better ways to donate your money. The Free Gaza movement (or whomever it was that organized those flotillas) is an excellent choice.
You do J Street a disservice and your comment is something of a slander. J Street does important work and has contributed much towards advancing a two state solution.
However, you're correct in stating that they are not the solitary alternative to AIPAC.
In addition to J Street, I recommend that readers also investigate the Jewish Voice for Peace;
Americans for Peace Now; Peace Now (Israeli organization to APN is affiliated); New Israel Fund;
Rabbis for Human rights-North America; Churches for Middle East Peace. I am sure there are also other organizations worth noting, these however are the ones that pop immediately into mind.
Peace my brethren
FYI, sivasm, one cannot edit/modify a comment once someone has replied to it.
It doesn't matter how long ago the comment is posted; if no one has replied to it, the "edit" link remains displayed and can be used.
Once somebody replies, notice that the "edit" link disappears and the comment is locked. As I found out the hard way, if someone replies to a comment even WHILE one is editing it, the edit won't "take". Instead, when you try to re-post the comment you'll be taken to a page with an error message telling you to contact an administrator.
When the site was down because of supposed software upgrades earlier this month, I hoped for some user-friendly improvements to the comments platform. But I think that this no-frills version is as good as it gets, and that the administrators remain conflicted and hostile towards maintaining comments threads at all.
Different Michael Moore. The Film maker is Michael Francis Moore -- middle initial F.
Edit:
unless it's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_S._Moore in which case it's the OTHER Michael Moore the film maker. :lol:
Sivasm, Here in America if one limits themselves to the MSM (main stream media), they are not told about these crimes, never elaborated on. Everything is pro-Israel. Two years ago while Cast lead was going on , nary a word. I have done much research and believe the creation of Israel was a crime from the beginning. However, if you limit yourself to American literature, you are not told the truth, or important information is intentionally left out. Washington DC is occupied Israeli territory. Our people are intentionally kept in the dark. But, and this is a big but, many are waking up to the deceptive nature of not only the MSM, but also the functioning of our government. I am aware of at least 65 UN Resolutions that Israel is in defience of not encluding the Goldstone Report. Very few Americans are aware of the Goldstone Report much less what it is about. My heart goes out to you and your people. "...... and still no one cares." My highest asperation for this new year is that the entire world would recognise a Palistinian State and confine Israel to pre-1967 borders. Peace, Best wishes!!!
One of the most striking examples I recall reflecting the Bias shown in the Main Stream media in the united States was a single photograph.
It showed a house being pushed down by an Israeli Bulldozer. The Caption read "Palestinian house being Bulldozed by Israeli Authorities" or some such. In the foreground was a fence with laundry hung on it to dry and an aged Palestinian woman weeping as she watched her house bulldozed.
Within a day the photograph had been changed. It was the exact same image but the fence and the old Palestinian woman had been airbrushed out. Apparently the original photo created too much empathy for the victim and the Zionist supporters (JUST as those who come here and proclaim Palestine a land EMPTY of people when the Jews from Europe arrived) simply ERASED the existence of the Palestinian.
There is that Cuckoo clock again right on schedule.
Gw, do you have proof of this? Not that I would be inclined to disbelieve you; The Zionists would certainly not be above Stalinist-era skullduggery of this type. It's just that there is such much bad news out there on all fronts that I don't want to get any more depressed than I absolutely have to be.
Do you have any idea of any possible links that might show at least one of these pictures, and preferably both of them? Maybe someone else here on CD might know of something. Thanks for the post, but I'm sick already:-(
move
Yes add it !! With thanks to Mr. Moore.
And where are the other advocacy groups? There are several American
groups whose silence (non-signing) is in itself a statement.
Do not stand idly by.
You could add my name but I am only a tiny cog. If you wish I give it
to you:
Peter Loeb
352 Massachusetts Ave. #316
Boston, MA 02115
USA
In solidarity !!!
Peter
take all of them to the world criminal court or anywhere you can take them to. sue the criminals, each and every one of them, and force them to have to try and defend their atrocities. make their evil system too expensive to sustain, even if you do not win in the their court of injustice.
Israel is not a signatory of the ICC so it doesn't have jurisdiction there. The only other way to get someone before the ICC is to have the Security Council put them there and that is not going to happen as long as there is US veto and THAT will be there as long as the UN exists.
So you're asking that the most virulent racists on earth not be racist? Well you know what they say, you can wish with one hand....
That is an enormously impressive list of supporters, nonetheless.
ccmep.org
Google " Maps of Palestine ( West bank, Gaza, east Jerusalem)
See: Palestinian Loss of Land 1946-1999
Four Panels.Green is Palestinian / White is Jewish
1946 = Mostly Green with a sprinkling of White.
1947 = About 45% Green / 55% White.
1967 = About 35% Green / 65% White.
1999 = Mostly White / With a sprinkling of Green
A very large increase in the White areas between 1967 and 1999.
Inch by Inch it will soon be All White.
Moral to the story.......That is the identical method of the politicial take over of the United States Congress.
Think about it. Its the perfect way to increase political power. Find a Super power, infiltrate its congress, corrupt its members, push the agenda for a weak leader, Make the financial establishment "The Central Bank of the NAtion"
Control The money, Use the power of Money to gain reelection
control over the members of congress........
SUCKERS .....STUPID SUCKERS......Not only is Palestine going to be all WHite
That is what the / USA congress / White House / Scotus going to be....SUCKERS...
ccmep.org This might be a short cut......
Curioussteve,
If the U.N. or any other sane body in the world sues Israel, chances are that we, U.S. taxpayers, will pay for Israel's negligence for not complying with international law... We Americans are just too stupid and we continue to allow this perpetual drain on our own resources to support that renegade country, Israel!
My point is that WE PAY IF ISRAEL VIOLATES EVERY HUMANITARIAN CONCEPT EVER DEVISED BY ANYONE INTERESTED IN JUSTICE IN THE WORLD. We probably pay more in lost good will in the world than we pay in dollars for supporting Israel's bad faith in everything human/humane in our world.
I want our good-will back and I want for us to stop supporting racist countries that suck our life's blood in the name of fundamental Christian beliefs.
Jesus is not happy with any of you Christians who overlook oppression to support Israel, as it exists. We, as Christians, are not living in the "Old Testament". We are living in the "New Testament", which requires "love" over everything else.
I am not a film-maker, thus the middle initial.
Well Chrissy, why not join up and go arrest those ebil terrists.
http://www.mahal-idf-volunteers.org/
Don't feed the troll/hasbarist, Chris Berel.
Dear Gazans:
I not only support your right to exist, but to exist on your own land with"life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. " I wish I could get the United States to believe it too.
The only thing I can do right now is to boycott things from Israel. This might sound weird but I really like earrings, especially old ones. I had been saving up to buy some earrings made from ancient Roman glass, and made in Israel.
After hearing about Rachel Corrie and reading about the thousands of others who have been murdered and who still suffer from Israel's policies, I had to say NO to the one thing I wanted. I really couldn't buy ancient glass from a nation that tries to destroy and break an ancient people. All of the Palestinians truly deserve the right to live on their own land. It may not be much help , but I read labels very carefully now.
Dear ChrisBerel:
I'm sorry that you think that people are powerless. I don't believe that at all. It takes time to change things, but it does start with knowledge and this grows with each INDIVIDUAL act. I was happy to read today on my local news that some Israeli builders will be rebuilding homes and business for Palestinians. They will not be using any materials from Israeli stettlements. ONE ACT at a time, humanity grows better and better.
There are many good people all around the world, and I'm sure that many of us feel sorry for you. I don't mean to be rude. but you have to JOIN the human race to become truly human. To deny another person is ultimately to deny yourself, but it is a choice. I wish for you to choose wisely, but that's my wish and maybe someday it will yours too.
It all started with the murder of Count Folke Bernadotte in 1947. Read about the original sin of the Zioniost state, conceived in the count's blood on September 17,1948.
Unfortunately, I do not believe there will ever be justice for Gaza or the Palestinians. Israel's goal is to take all of Palestine for themselves and to find a "solution" for those Palestinians left standing.....probably total neglect after gaining complete control of all water sources and all arable land. The International Community can protest, but they are powerless to do anything as long a the U.S. supports Israel. The Palestinians' only recourse is open rebellion which, in turn, allows Israel to "justify" its oppression of the Palestinian people. And so it goes, until "Palestine" and its native population is only a memory....something that can be erased.