28th October 2023
Worldwide demonstrations against Israeli violence continue
The Israeli massacre of Palestinian civilians continues to gather pace with the relentless bombarding of the Gaza Strip and increasing land based military activity in preparation for a full scale invasion. The death toll on the Palestinian side is currently nearly 8,000 people, with 3,000 of those dead being children. While the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) claim not to be targeting civilians, focussing upon their stated objective of rooting out and immobilising Hamas, they are not doing this with any precision, given the unacceptable level of civilian casualties.
As the world’s fourth largest military force, armed with state of the art precision guided missiles supplied by the United States, the IDF are either poorly trained in the use of such technology or they are lying. Given the level of investment the US has made into ensuring that Israel is fully equipped to be the US proxy in the Middle East, it is hard to believe that training in weapons use would be overlooked.
IDF spokesmen are now seeking to justify targeting hospitals, on the spurious argument that Hamas have weapons and facilities based beneath medical locations, and that this is justifiable under international law.
The discovery of international law is a recent one for the Israelis, who have been ignoring it for decades when it comes to the robbery of land from Palestinians in order to ‘settle’ religious fundamentalists; illegally occupying territory which should form part of a Palestinian state; and undertaking regular killings of Palestinians on the streets and in refugee camps. The current massacre in Gaza is just the latest in a long line of breeches of international law which the Israelis routinely flout.
When United Nations General Secretary, Antonio Guterres, this week suggested that it was “important to also recognise the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum”, going on to add that “The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation”, the Israelis expressed outrage and called for his resignation.
When Guterres suggested that Palestinians had “seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence; their economy stifled; their people displaced and their homes demolished”, Israeli outrage turned to apoplexy. Yet every word of Guterres’ statement is true.
In response, Israeli Foreign Minister, Eli Cohen, suggested that “Hamas are the new Nazis,” adding that, “Just as the civilised world united to defeat the Nazis, just as the civilised world united to defeat Islamic State, the civilised world has to stand united behind Israel to defeat Hamas.”
Cohen did not outline how the ongoing massacre of civilians, the rejection of a ceasefire, the refusal to supply fuel to hospitals and other public facilities in Gaza, or the order for all civilians in the north of Gaza to move south, were reasons for the so called “civilised world” to stand united behind Israel.
The United Nations General Assembly on Friday adopted a major resolution on the Gaza crisis, calling for an “immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities.” The breakdown of the recorded vote, included 120 members in favour and 14 against, with 45 abstentions. To the shame of Britain, the position adopted by the Tories was to abstain, while not surprisingly the United States and Israel were amongst the 14 voting against.
While General Assembly votes are not binding upon member states the vote nevertheless shows that the balance of international opinion is not in favour of the Israeli action. Within the EU it was notable that while Germany, Italy and Netherlands abstained, France and Ireland voted in favour of the resolution.
The UN resolution called for rescinding of the order by Israel, “the occupying Power”, for Palestinian civilians, UN staff and humanitarian workers to evacuate all areas in the Gaza Strip north of Wadi Gaza and relocate to the south.
The General Assembly also called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of all civilians being illegally held captive, demanding their safety, well-being and humane treatment in compliance with international law.
It also reaffirmed that a “just and lasting solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only be achieved by peaceful means, based on the relevant UN resolutions and in accordance with international law, and on the basis of the two-State solution.
Given the growing international consensus in favour of a ceasefire in the present conflict, and the need for a two-State solution to the crisis longer term, the supine position of the Labour leadership in Britain, toeing the Tory line that “Israel has the right to defend itself”, is becoming more untenable by the day.
While the majority supporting Palestinian rights do not endorse the Hamas action of 7th October, the almost 60 year long abuse of the human rights of Palestinians by the apartheid Israeli state must be weighed in the balance when the wider picture is considered. Labour must come down more firmly in defence of Palestinian rights and assert the rights of the Palestinian people, suffering under Israeli occupation, to defend themselves.
From the beginning of 2023 up to 6th October, the day before the offensive from Gaza began, Israeli forces had killed 240 Palestinians including 45 children, the highest level of killing since the UN began to keep accurate records in 2005.
As Palestine Solidarity Campaign point out,
“Gaza, with a population of over 2 million – of whom 50% are children – has been subjected to an Israeli-imposed blockade for the last 16 years. This collective punishment of an entire population is in absolute defiance of international law. It is worth remembering that 80% of the inhabitants of Gaza are refugees. “
Demonstrations in London and other major cities in Britain and worldwide continue to make the case for Palestinian rights and against the disproportionate response of the Israeli state to the Hamas action. Further action as endorsed and encouraged by Palestine Solidarity Campaign can be found here https://palestinecampaign.org/emergency-response-2023/
Avanti Populo 