04‏/08‏/2014

Gaza: a humanitarian and moral crisis

 Mohammad Zeidan

 Middle East Monitor : https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/articles/middle-east

As the crisis in Gaza escalates to truly critical levels, with a death toll breaching 1,900 Palestinians and rising and an 80% civilian mortality rate, we are overdue a serious reflection on the nature of the positions being taken by international bodies. It is with grave concern that we must note the lack of human rights and international humanitarian law principles that are guiding the most recent statements from bodies including the UN, the EU Foreign Affairs Committee and those of foreign ministries around the world.

In the past three weeks, the world has watched Israel launch deadly attack after deadly attack against densely populated civilian areas and infrastructures. In the course of its bloody offensive, Israel has deemed legitimate targets to be hospitals, medical centers, ambulances, press and media reporters and UN facilities, including six UNRWA schools used to shelter families who had been forced to abandon their homes as their neighborhoods fell under Israeli fire. Such attacks which fail to differentiate between civilian and military areas breach the principles of distinction and proportionality and equate to war crimes, creating unacceptable mortality and injury rates as were condemned "in the strongest terms" the reported ceasefire violation by Hamas and demanded that an Israeli soldier captured in Gaza be released immediately and unconditionally!!! who claimed the occupation that a soldier captured by the Palestinian resistance and relied on false story to justify the killing of more than 270 children, women, men, youth and elderly, in addition to the hundreds of wounded and the destruction of more homes and the displacement of thousands from their homes during the period of the truce as an uninhabitable living situation within the Gaza Strip which has left residents without access to the most basic provisions including clean water, electricity and shelter.

Despite mounting casualties and mortality rates, there has thus far been a failure on behalf of the international community to implement any practical steps to curtail Israel’s aggressions, such as diplomatic, economic or military pressure. After Amnesty International launched an urgent appeal calling on the international community to stop arms sales to Israel, the United States days later agreed to provide Israel with additional ammunition.

This latest military operation is the third that Gaza has suffered through in the past five years and has fast become the bloodiest. Lack of meaningful action and empty statements, which do not draw on the basic principles of human rights and international law, have done nothing but provide Israel with confidence and diplomatic cover to continue their hostilities. Continued emphasis on Israel’s ‘right to defend itself’ and statements which focus on "both" sides ceasing hostilities obscure the asymmetry of the conflict. They undermine the imbalance of power between one of the most sophisticated and highly funded militaries in the world and that of a nation who have lain under a seven year blockade which has crippled all military and civilian infrastructures.  Reports which fail to clearly differentiate between the numbers of civilian and military fatalities on "both sides" evade the question that the world needs to be asking itself now: ‘who is the terrorist state?’. This is clearly illustrated by the recent UN General Secretary’s statement in which he condemned "in the strongest terms" the reported ceasefire violation by Hamas and demanded that an Israeli soldier captured in Gaza be released immediately and unconditionally!!!. While in reality, Israel had perpetuated the falsehood that this soldier had been ‘kidnapped’ by the Palestinian resistance in order to legitimize the killing of more than 270 Palestinians, including women, children and the elderly.  This is in addition to leaving hundreds wounded, destroying more homes and displacing thousands during the period of the ‘ceasefire’.

The international community is continuing in its failure to address the origins of the problem which are rooted in over 60 years of Palestinian suffering dating back to the 1948 Nakba, the destruction of over 500 villages, the creation of millions of refugees the world over, 46 years of occupation, a seven year siege on Gaza, confiscation of land, building of settlements, and over 20 years of futile negotiations which have resulted in nothing more than an increase of ‘facts on the ground’. 

Rather, the message being sent by the recent statements of the UN and EU are that human rights do not apply to Palestinians and international law doesn't apply to Israel.  This was illustrated recently by the EU’s public dissuasion of Palestinians from seeking justice through the International Criminal Court. The international community has shown shameful hypocrisy in its failure to act on behalf of the Palestinians and to afford them protection under international law. Of the 47 members of the UN Human Rights Council, only 29 nations voted to set up a commission to launch an international, independent inquiry into human rights violations in Gaza. Within Europe not a single EU state voted in favor of a Human Rights Council-mandated Commission of Inquiry to be sent to investigate violations of international law. It cannot be emphasised enough that this was merely an inquiry into wrong doing and did not constitute punitive measures of any form. Furthermore, since 1948 tens of UN resolutions relating to the rights of the Palestinians have gone unimplemented. The findings of the Goldstone report which was produced after Operation Cast Lead in 2008/9 have not been acted upon and has not prevented subsequent hostilities of even greater proportions. Within Europe, governments are seeking to amend domestic laws to prevent Palestinians from utilizing international jurisdiction and seeking justice through foreign courts.

The message sent by this failure to adequately and indiscriminately implement international law and human rights protection mechanisms is twofold. Firstly, it sends a message to Palestinians that using peaceful and legal mechanisms to secure national and human rights is ineffective. Secondly, it tells us that the United Nations is not serious about its remit, thus undermining the entire system of international cooperation and rights protection. Sadly, these failures set another dangerous precedent which will shape the actions of future victims and perpetrators around the world.

Human rights cannot under any circumstances be sacrificed for a 'peace process' especially for a process that has only lead to the strengthening of the Israeli occupation and the establishment of more settlements on the lands grabbed from the Palestinians. History has shown us that there is no peace without justice and no justice without respect for human rights and accountability. To achieve sustainable peace, the international community must choose between upholding international law and universal values or continuing to maintain the law of the jungle, whereby size and strength champions over the weak to the detriment of justice and equality. Failure to judge Israel’s war crimes and actions against human rights and international humanitarian law standards and to take robust measures to prevent further abuses, will only result in the continuation of war and further civilian bloodshed, whilst also preventing the victims from using peaceful and legal remedies to demand their basic rights. This constitutes fertile ground for extremism to breed. As recent history has shown us, extremism crosses borders and breaches continents and when this happens humanity may pay the price that Palestinians are now paying.

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