[WCUSP] Time to Get Serious About Israel (Guardian)

[KATHARLOW at aol.com]

Can one imagine a US Congressional committee calling for sanctions against  
Israel? No, the US Congress sanctioned its victims...

_http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/john_hilary/2007/01/mps_back_sanctions_on
_israel.html_ 
(http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/john_hilary/2007/01/mps_back_sanctions_on_israel.html) 

Time to get serious about Israel
A multi-party committee of MPs is pressing for sanctions  over Israel's 
treatment of the Palestinians.
 
_by John  Hilary_ 
(http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/john_hilary/profile.html) 


January 31, 2007 01:30 PM | 
(http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/john_hilary/2007/01/mps_back_sanctions_on_israel.html.printer.friendly) 
You know that things are serious when a parliamentary select committee puts  
out a call for sanctions against another sovereign state. Doubly so when that  
state is supposed to be one of Britain's key allies in the Middle East. Yet  
today the House of Commons international development committee is _calling_ 
(http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmintdev.htm)  on  the Labour 
government to press for sanctions against Israel over its treatment  of the 
Palestinian people. Things must be pretty bad. 
Things are indeed bad, says the committee's new report. As a result of  
Israeli occupation and the accompanying restrictions on movement, the  Palestinian 
economy is in freefall. Fully 70% of Palestinians are now living in  poverty, 
according to UN calculations, a figure which rises to 80% in Gaza. Over  half 
of all Palestinians are now unable to cover their families' daily food  needs 
without relying on external aid - a scandal in such a rich and fertile  land. 
As a first step in putting pressure on the Israeli government to end this  
oppression, the UK should now urge its fellow members in the EU to consider  
suspending the EU-Israel association agreement, the cross-party committee says.  
That agreement gives Israeli exports preferential access to the markets of  
the European Union. Europe accounts for two-thirds of Israeli exports, and  
suspending the preferences those exports currently enjoy would send the first  
proper message to Israel that its oppression of the Palestinian people is  
unacceptable. 
That message is long overdue. The EU-Israel agreement should have been  
suspended years ago, as its own text states that it is conditional upon respect  
for human rights. In this regard Israel has already violated the agreement many  
times over. The UN's own special rapporteur, Jean Ziegler, among many others, 
 has pointed out that the agreement should already have been _suspended_ 
(http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/1ce874ab1832a53e852570bb006dfaf6/d88c8f3e2404f4a1
8525701300739e8f!OpenDocument)   under its own terms. 
The call for suspension of Israel's trading preferences is the first in a  
line of sanctions which the UK could take. Suspending _arms sales_ 
(http://www.stoparmingisrael.org/)  is another obvious  candidate. The UK has been 
approving record levels of arms sales to Israel over  the past couple of years, 
despite admitting that it cannot trust Israel's claims  that the weapons will not be 
used in its military operations against the  Palestinian people. The 
government is now facing a _court  case_ 
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/armstrade/story/0,,1947980,00.html)  on the issue. 
Today's committee report is not just targeted at Israel. It also _slams_ 
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,2002531,00.html)  the  UK and other 
international donors for withdrawing aid to the Palestinian  Authority since 
early 2006. Together with Israel's withholding of revenues due  to the Palestinian 
government, this action by the international community has  "increased 
poverty and hardship amongst most Palestinians", the report says. At  least one 
million people have been affected by this punitive action, the least  smart form 
of sanctions since those imposed on the people of Iraq during the  1990s. 
The main significance of the committee's report is that it challenges Tony  
Blair to move from his unconditional support of Israel to a position of 
standing  up for the Palestinian people. In so doing, the report echoes the call of a 
new  coalition also launched this week. The _Enough!_ 
(http://www.enoughoccupation.org/)  coalition brings together  all major British trade unions, 
campaigns organisations and charities plus faith  groups from the Jewish, Muslim and 
Christian communities in a joint call for  justice for the Palestinian 
people. Only through such justice can Israelis and  Palestinians hope to build a 
lasting peace for the region as a whole. 
The immediate focus of the coalition is to mark this year's 40th anniversary  
of Israel's military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. However,  
Palestinian groups trace their suffering back further to the 1948 nakba, or  
catastrophe, when 750,000 were driven into exile in order to make way for the  
founding of the Israeli state. Both anniversaries are equally important. 
For those of us who bear the weight of British imperial history, there is  
another reason for marking 2007. This year also sees the 90th anniversary of the 
 _Balfour  Declaration_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balfour_Declaration_of_1917) , in which Britain, for its own political ends, committed itself  to a 
Jewish national home in Palestine. Britain and France had promised  
self-determination to the peoples of the former Ottoman empire, but the British  
government chose to deny the people of Palestine this right. 
Yet the historical responsibility of the British state is not the issue. It  
is Britain's current support of Israeli aggression which must be challenged 
and  changed. Today's call for action from MPs in the international development  
committee must be the start of a radical reorientation of Britain's policy  
towards the Middle East. Sanctions against Israel is a first and necessary step 
 on that journey.

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