STATEMENTS AND ACT IONS CONDEMNING ISRAEL
Compiled by Daya Varma
As to be expected the Israeli attack on Gaza has received world wide condemnation. INSAF Bulletin is producing what it was able to get and we are sure there have been dozens and dozens of statements not accounted by us. Read what we have access to.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA: (New Delhi, Dec 30 (IANS)
Condemning the “unwarranted use of force” by Israel in the Gaza Strip that has killed over 300 Palestinians, India has expressed “disappointment” at continuing military strikes and asked Tel Aviv to observe “utmost restraint”. “The government of India had hoped that military action by Israel against targets in the Gaza Strip would abate,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Vishnu Prakash said in a statement here Monday night.
“It is disappointing to note that the use of disproportionate force is resulting in a large number of civilian casualties on the one hand and the escalating violence on the other,” the spokesperson said. “This continued use of indiscriminate force is unwarranted and condemnable,” Prakash underlined. “The government of India urges utmost restraint so as to give peace a chance as the peace process may well get derailed irreversibly by Israel’s attack in the Gaza Strip and continued violence,” he said. Israel Tuesday rejected any truce with Hamas Islamists in the Gaza Strip before cross-border rocket fire ceased and said its air strikes heralded “long weeks of military action”. Around 350 people have died and more than 800 wounded since Israel launched its attacks Saturday. This is the second statement by India in less than three days asking Israel to end the use of force against Palestinian civilians. The first statement Dec 27 took note of “immediate cross-border provocations resulting from rocket attacks particularly against targets in southern Israel” – a reference to Hamas using rocket attacks to target southern Israel which was cited by Tel Aviv as a reason for attacking the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. [By any standards, the India stance is mild and nowhere close to statements issued of Venezuela, Bolivia and Cuba. India also donated $1 million for Gaza relief. Ed.)
NON-ALIGNED MOVEMENT (NAM): January 6, 2008
The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) condemned Israel’s military invasion against the Gaza Strip as it expressed its sorrow over the loss of more than 550 innocent Palestinians and the merciless destruction of their territory.
A statement issued by the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), published at the United Nations, in New York, expresses the NAM’s concern about Israel’s ground invasion, which started on January 3, when hundreds of tanks opened fire against the Gaza territory, [defying] the world’s outcry. The NAM called upon the international community, especially the Security Council, to uphold international law and to act urgently to address this grave situation. The NAM reaffirmed its support for and solidarity with the Palestinian people.
JEFF HALPER, ISRAELI PEACE ACTIVIST AND NOBEL PEACE PRIZE NOMINEE
Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) hosted a series of talks by Jeff Halper. One of Mr. Halper’s talks, addressing the Jewish community, scheduled at the Gelber Centre, Montreal, was cancelled due to pressure from the Combined Jewish Appeal. The Unitarian Church offered a replacement venue, where he presented his views on January 15. In his opening words, Mr. Halper clarified that the State of Israel does not speak for all Jews, that today there was growing resistance amongst the Jewish population against the forceful occupation of Palestinian land, demolition of Arab homes and the deliberate siege of Gaza.
According to him, the occupation is illegal by international law, and the occupiers can and should be tried for war crimes. The demolition of homes and land acquisition is deliberate and systematized to force the Palestinian populations to flee their homeland. Terms like “apartheid”, “ethnic cleansing” and even “genocide” can be and should be applied to describe the situation of the Palestinians. He contended that the continued occupation has all the hallmarks of apartheid rule as it segregates very deliberately and forcibly, the Arab populations from the Jewish ones, with separate infrastructures, services, rights and lack thereof. In some instances, the apartheid practiced today in Gaza and the Occupied Territories, goes even further in its harshness than to the one practiced in South Africa. There is an urgent and immediate need to “re-frame” the context of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Will the Palestinians be allowed true sovereignty over their land where they can develop economically? Will they have complete control over their borders and resources and enjoy complete freedom of movement? Or will they be encircled in a tightly controlled enclave and “Bantustan” style ghetto with ultimate control residing with the State of Israel? These are questions that one must ask in order to seek for viable peace. (Jeff Halper’s views, articulated in
“The Matrix of Control” can be accessed at: http://www.icahd.org <http://www.icahd.org/>
[Submitted by Kiran Omar]
MONTREAL SCREENING OF THE FILM
The film “Occupation 101- The Voice of a Silent Majority” was screened at the Islamic Community Centre , Montreal on January 17, 2009. Close to 200 people from different walks of life attended the screening to inform and educate themselves on the issue. This award winning documentary is extremely important for those who seek to understand the history and roots of the present Israeli-Palestinian conflict (For details, visit: http://www.occupation101.com <http://www.occupation101.com/> ).
The film delves into the beginnings of the Zionist expansionism, and defines the parameters of the conflict. The film presented the degradations faced by the Palestinians under the Occupation, and the pivotal role played by successive US administrations and powerful lobby groups. The film is often graphic and difficult to watch in places, it is poignant and heart-wrenching, often dark and dismal. However despite its grimness, it also contained an underpinning of hope. “Occupation 101” featured scholars, journalists, historians, political activists and religious leaders from all faiths. These are voices of reason and wisdom that are muted and silenced. Ironically, many of these voices, like Noam Chomsky, Jeff Halper, Amira Hass of Haaretz, etc. are regarded as the most reasonable and respected by intellectuals and humanitarian workers the world over.
(Submitted by Kiran Omar)
GILAD ATZMON: December 30, 2008
In an article (December 30, 2008) titled “How Israeli leaders kill for their people’s votes, Gilad Atzmon, an Israeli-born musician and writer, who has renounced his Israeli nationality, explains Israel’s massacre of Palestinians in Gaza in terms of Israeli culture, which is imbued with racism and a murderous hatred of Arabs in general and Palestinians in particular.
He says: “In order to grasp the latest devastating and murderous Israeli expedition in Gaza, one must deeply comprehend the Israeli identity and its inherent hatred towards anyone who is not Jewish and towards Arabs in particular. This hatred is imbued in the Israeli curriculum, it is preached by political leaders and implied by their acts, and it is conveyed by cultural figures, even within the so-called “Israeli left”. He continues: “Although the central purpose of Zionism was to transform Jews by “giving them a state of their own” and making them like any other people, it has failed miserably. The Israeli barbarism that we saw this week and too many times before is far beyond bestiality. It is killing for the sake of killing. And it is indiscriminate.”
Atzmon adds: “I grew up in post-1967 Israel. I was raised in the wake of the Israeli mythical victory. We were trained to worship the “Israeli who shoots from the hip”, the platoon commando who shoots his Uzi automatic rifle in the direction of the Arabs and manages to win against four armies in just six days.”
(This article appeared in Palestine Think Tank.)
NORWAY TRADE UNIONS
All trains stopped for two minutes in solidarity with Palestinians. It was a historical mobilization against Gaza massacres. It was not an economic buit a political strike. Demonstration were held in 28 cities: Oslo, Stavanger, Sandnes, Fredrikstad, Trondheim, Hamar, Sortland, Namsos, Arendal, Norheimsund, Mosjøen, Bergen, Sarpsborg, Tønsberg, Harstad, Tromsø, Kristiansand, Notodden, Vadsø, Mo i Rana, Alta, Kirkenes, Røros, Volda, Halden, Gjøvik, Lillehammer, Selbu.
The confederation of Norwegian Trade Unions (LO), with approximately 20% of the population as members condemned the Israeli bombing and invasion in Gaza; 22.000 supports the Facebook-group demanding the Israeli Ambassador to be expelled from Norway. The Facebook-group has got attention in all major newspaper and was hacked by a Zionist hacker-group but is now back on track.
Approximately 31% of Norwegians supports the boycott of Israel, in a survey by the pro-Israel tabloid VG today. The question was politically charged “Do you support the Socialist Left’s boycott of Israel?” If not mentioning the Socialists the number would probably be much higher. The vast majority in all groups in the survey is against the Israeli invasion of Gaza. (Info Supplied by Shalini Gera).
DEMAND TO INVESTIGATE ISRAEL FOR WAR CRIMES
Cuba, Egypt (on the behalf of Arab and African nations) and Pakistan (on behalf of the Organization of Islamic countries) called for a special meeting of the UN Human Rights Council to discuss the human rights situation in Gaza. It was at this meeting that the UN HRC chief, South African jurist Navi Pillai, had called for an investigation of Israeli war crimes in Gaza, especially the case in al-zaitoun, where Israeli forces kept the Red Cross from getting access to the dead and wounded.
The Council voted on January 12, 2009 to adopt a very hard-hitting resolution, which, apart from the call for immediate ceasefire etc, seeks to dispatch an independent fact-finding mission to investigate possible war crimes by Israel in Gaza, especially the bombing of the UNRWA facilities. The resolution was not adopted by consensus, but by a majority count.
The voting patterns for this session are quite informative. The Council has 47 members, of which 33 members voted in favor of the resolution, 13 abstained and one voted against. In general, all African, Arab and Latin American countries voted in favor of the resolution. European countries abstained. Canada was the only country which voted against the resolution. Asian countries were divided, with China and the South Asian countries (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) voting for the resolution (yay!), and Japan and South Korea abstaining.
The reasons given by Canada (for voting against) and EU & Japan (for abstaining) were typical–while they were very sympathetic to the Palestinian position, they thought that the resolution was not “balanced”, it was “one-sided” and technical terms with very specific legal meaning were being used without adequate justification. (Aha!) In particular, they didn’t like the name of the resolution.
Notable exceptions to this pattern are: Russia, breaking with other European countries, voted FOR the resolution (They said that they also thought the resolution was not “balanced” but felt that the situation was dire enough to warrant their vote for the resolution). Cameroon, unlike the other African countries, abstained. (Supplied by Shalini Gera)
COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MARXIST)
(January 5, 2009) “The savage and horrific wave of air strikes by the Israeli Government on the densely populated Gaza strip leading to the killing of over 200 Palestinians, one third of whom are reportedly women and children and causing severe injuries to hundreds more, once again exposes the state terrorism indulged in by Israel. This attack comes on top of the siege of Gaza by the Israeli armed forces. The Israeli government has been oblivious to all the calls for stopping its policies of colonial repression in Gaza and the West Bank. Israel is emboldened in its aggression by the backing it receives from the United States.”
MONTREAL ACTIVISTS: (January 15, 2009 2:21 PM)
Montrealers occupied the office of Raymond Bachand, Quebec’s Economic Development Minister, in solidarity with Gaza. They tore up Quebec-Israel bilateral accord and condemned Israel’s attack on Gaza!” The Quebec-Israel accord does not include measures to force Israel to respect human rights or international law. Additionally the Quebec-Israel accord makes no distinction between products produced in illegal Israeli settlements and other Israeli products. “Thousands have marched in Quebec in solidarity with Gaza” noted Marc-Andre Faucher from ASSÉ, representing over forty-thousand students. “[Chief Minister] Charest’s accord with Israel is not supported by the majority of people in Quebec.
SANSAD (South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy) based in Vancouver: Statement (Jan 15, 2009)
“SANSAD is outraged by the support of the Government of Canada for the savage and criminal attack by the state of Israel on the helpless and virtually imprisoned civilian population of Gaza. The Government of Canada has toed the line laid by the US in refusing to criticize Israel’s bombing of Gaza beginning December 27, 2008..” It went on: “As such, the Government of Canada is complicit with the Government of the United States in this crime against humanity. For so far over a thousand people, mostly civilians, have been killed by the Israelis; many of them old, women, and children.” The statement also added: “We find it utterly shameful that not only is the Government of Canada complicit in Israel’s crime but the members of Parliament elected by the people of Canada have maintained silence on this matter. We urge all honest Canadian parliamentarians to uphold human rights and the principles of international law to condemn Israel’s atrocities and call for an immediate end to the killing of Palestinians in Gaza.” e-mail: sansad@sansad.org
INTERNATIONAL WRITERS AND SCHOLARS ENDORSE ACADEMIC BOYCOTT OF ISRAEL
We call upon our fellow writers and academics in the United States to question discourses that justify and rationalize injustice, and to address Israeli assaults on civilians in Gaza as one of the most important moral issues of our time.
We call upon institutions of higher education in the U.S. to cut ties with Israeli academic institutions, dissolve study abroad programs in Israel, and divest institutional funds from Israeli companies, using the 1980s boycott against apartheid South Africa as a model.
We call on all people of conscience to join us in boycotting Israeli products and institutions until a just, democratic state for all residents of Palestine/Israel comes into existence.
(circulated by Steven Salaita Department of English, Virginia Tech University, USA)