[WCUSP] Fwd: Israel dreigt Palestijnen met Holocaust / Spoeddebat ?!

[Odile Hugonot Haber]

From: Edith Ballantyne <edibal at bluewin.ch>
Date: Mar 2, 2008 10:52 AM
Subject: Re: Israel dreigt Palestijnen met Holocaust / Spoeddebat ?!
To: heidi meinzolt <Meinzolt-Depner at t-online.de>, Han Deggeller
<handeggeller at live.nl>, Kerstin Grebäck <kerstin.greback at wilpf.ch>
Cc: Dafna Banai <ybanai at netvision.net.il>, Felicity Hill
<felicity.hill at wilpf.ch>, Hanan Awwad <palpenc at palnet.com>, Saba
Nowzari <saba.nowzari at ikff.se>, Odile Hugonot Haber
<odilehh at gmail.com>



Friends,

 What is happening to the people in Gaza – but also to all of occupied
Palestine is unbelievable and it is terribly dangerous.  It is not
just  that the volcano is building up underneath Israel/Palestine
soil, but under the soil of the entire Middle East and Gulf region. If
it is allowed to erupt, it will be a global disaster. It seems
incredible that this international community of nations cannot find
the guts and energy to stop it all while it can.

 Anyway, here is a possible text to build on. But let it be direct,
short, and urgent.

 Regards, Edith


 Open letter to the President of UN Security Council, UN Secretary
General, the Quartet, Israeli Prime Minister, Israeli Minister of
Defence, Palestinian Authority and Hamas:

 Draft text of the body of the letter:


 We are horrified by the escalation in military action by Israel
resulting in the daily murder of  innocent civilians in the Gaza strip
as a result of the massive escalation in military action by Israel.
This is illegal, uncivilized  and  unacceptable behaviour by a United
Nations Member State.

 We call on Hamas to end firing rockets into Israel. It is
unacceptable and does not contribute to ending Israel's occupation of
the Palestinian Territory.

 We call on the United Nations, particularly on the Security Council
and its five permanent members, to assume its responsibility and take
steps that will lead speedily to end the occupation by Israel of all
Arab territories by Israel in 1967, based on all the relevant
resolutions adopted over the years by the UN Security Council and
General Assembly. These remain the legal basis for a settlement of the
conflict which must be achieved quickly to eliminate a serious threat
to international peace.



 Le 02/03/08 10:45, « heidi meinzolt » <Meinzolt-Depner at t-online.de> a écrit :


Han you are completely right! Following this horrible scenario in Gaza
(not forgetting the daily horror and humiliation in the occupied
territories) you are nearly lacking words - I feel  a kind of
paralysed even if the necessity of urgent appeals are obvious ,
because each time you think the disproportionality of Israeli reaction
has culminated, it gets even worse. And the Holocost citation and the
killing of Civilians in Gaza is going on against any humanitarian law,
Human rights, ....

 (We already made a declaration in Germany concerning Olmerts visit in
Berlin last week.)

 The corner stones should be:

 1. Totally inacceptable the Holocaust citation !

 2. Killing of civilians against each humanitarian law, unacceptable -
nothing to do with a  right of self-defence!

 3. Disporportionality of reactions! Suffering through the siege is
already too much!

 4. Disrespect of Israel of UN res., int. laws - must have
consequences in the int. relationship!

 5. Even if the stop of the negotiation process is understandable,
nevertheless the Peace process must go on ( for ex. appeal that
Officials, int. delegations  must contact civilians, NGOs - not only
politicians!);

 Who can formulate this in an adequate way?

 Heidi



   "Han Deggeller" <handeggeller at live.nl> schrieb:


Dear Heidi, Edith and Felicity,

 I know you are very busy wth the march seminar but:
 We are very worried about the attacks  of Israel in GAZA. Can we do
something quicklty. Mr Solana will visit Israel and Palestine 2-4
march.
 Can you write  a statement as MO committte and/ or European sections
or as Excom?
 Greetings
 Han Deggeller












 Israel warns of Gaza  'holocaust', BBC  29-2-2008
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7270650.stm

 Israeli  leaders are warning of an imminent conflagration in Gaza
after Palestinian  militants aimed rockets at the southern city of
Ashkelon. The deputy defence minister  said the stepped-up rocket fire
would trigger what he called a "bigger  holocaust" in the
Hamas-controlled coastal strip.
 Israeli air strikes have killed about 30  Palestinians, including six
children in the past two days.
 Israel has activated its early  warning system in Ashkelon for the first time.
 One rocket  hit a block of flats in the city of 120,000 inhabitants
about 10km (six  miles) north of the Gaza Strip breaking through the
roof and slicing through  three floors below.
 No-one was injured, but another rocket landed near a  school,
wounding a 17-year-old girl.
 "The more [rocket] fire intensifies  and the rockets reach a longer
range, they (the Palestinians) will bring  upon themselves a bigger
holocaust because we will use all our might to  defend ourselves,"
Matan Vilnai told Israeli army radio.
 Correspondents  say the "holocaust" is a term rarely used in Israel
outside discussions of  the Nazi genocide during World War II.
 Separately, the chairman of the  parliamentary defence and foreign
affairs committee said Israel troops must  topple the Hamas movement
in Gaza and take over areas used to fire rockets.
 "The state of Israel must make a strategic decision to order the army
to  prepare quickly," Tzachi Hanegbi told Israel Radio.
 Code red
 Israeli aircraft launched  at least three raids on Gaza overnight. In
one attack in the Jabalya area at  least four people were wounded
including two children.
 One Israeli  civilian was killed in rocket fire on Wednesday. Of the
Palestinian  fatalities, about half have been civilians, including at
least six children.
 Hamas has called on Palestinians and Arabs to hold protests after
Friday  prayers against Israel's raids on Gaza.
 Israeli security officials said  that the rockets fired at Ashkelon
have been Grad-type imports made in Iran  with a range of about 22km.
 It is the first time Israel has ordered Code  Red sirens to be
sounded in Ashkelon as well as Sderot, the town almost  abutting Gaza
territory where the civilian was killed.
 Reports say  dozens of soldiers in orange berets from the Israeli
military's Home Front  Command have been hanging posters around the
city instructing residents on  what to do when the warning sounds.
 "It's a city with large facilities -  a huge soccer stadium, and a
basketball stadium, and a beach. No-one is  ready for this," Ashkelon
mayor Roni Mehatzri told Israel Radio.
 Israel's leadership has been under pressure in some quarters to
launch a  ground invasion of Gaza to end the rocket fire. However, a
recent opinion  poll also indicated a majority of Israel's favour a
negotiated truce with  Hamas.
 Hamas has been shunned by the West for refusing to recognise
Israel's legitimacy, it beat the Fatah faction in a parliamentary
election  two years ago.
 Hamas says it will cease fire if Israel stops military  operations in
Palestinian areas. It is also demanding an end to the  Israeli-led
blockade of Gaza that has cut supplies to its 1.5m inhabitants.




 ________________________________





 DCI/PS condemns the killing of  7 Palestinian children in two
separate incidents in the Gaza  strip

 DCI/PS  condemns the military attacks launched on Gaza on Wednesday
27 and Thursday  28 February, which led to the death of seven children
and the injury of  eight others in three separate incidents. Repeated
Israeli shelling  operations and air strikes took place in many parts
of the Gaza Strip on  Wednesday and Thursday.

 According to DCI investigations, at around  18:10 on Wednesday 27
February, Israeli forces launched several  surface-to-surface missiles
towards a group of children who were playing  football in the Atwam
area, in the north of the Gaza Strip, after a group of  Palestinian
resistance fighters launched home-made rockets from an adjacent  area.
Israel's strike killed Mohammad Hamada, 13, and Bilal Hijazi, 14.
Another five children were injured, one of whom is in critical
condition.

 In another incident on the same day, Mohammad Al Burai, 6 months
old, was killed by a piece of concrete falling from the neighbouring
Ministry of Interior, after it was hit by an Israeli missile.
According to  DCI's initial information, at around 22:30, an Israeli
war plane struck the  office of the Ministry of Interior in Gaza City,
located next to the UNRWA  school compound, where Mohammad 's family
lives (his grandfather being a  guard at one of the schools). The
child was inside the house as a piece of  rubble fell through the
ceiling. He was hit on his head and chest and died.

 A third incident took place during the drafting of this statement.
According to initial information from a DCI field worker, at least
four  children were killed and another three injured at around 15:45
today, when  an area adjacent to Al Salam mosque in Beit Hanoun was
attacked. The  children were killed while they were playing.

 Israel's military  attacks on Gaza resulting in the deaths of scores
of Palestinian civilians,  including children, and the destruction of
civilian infrastructure, violate  the principles of distinction and
military necessity, enshrined in  international humanitarian law.

 DCI/PS reiterates its condemnation of the  inaction of the
international community towards Israel's human rights  violations in
the Gaza Strip, especially in light of the fact that Israel  has
declared its commitment to continue its military operations until
Palestinian resistance fighters stop firing missiles at Israeli towns.
 DCI/PS condemns the firing of rockets from Gaza towards Israeli
civilian  areas, but believes that this cannot justify Israel's
military response  consisting in indiscriminate attacks on Gaza and a
continued blockade of the  territory. DCI/PS also deplores the
American government's support for  Israel's practices that they regard
as legitimate self-defence.

 DCI/PS calls on the High Contracting Parties to  the Fourth Geneva
Convention to fulfill their obligations under Article 1 of  the
Convention, and urge Israel to abide by its duties under the
Convention  regarding the conduct of hostilities and the principles of
distinction,  proportionality and necessity.

 Finally, DCI/PS urges the EU and its Member  States to use their
influence on Israel and exert diplomatic, political and  economic
pressure to ensure that it acts in compliance with its obligations
under international human rights and humanitarian law, and they should
 investigate and, where feasible, prosecute, through the exercise of
universal jurisdiction, individuals responsible for crimes under
international  law.


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