END THE MASSACRE IN
GAZA
I S O L A T E A P A R T H E I D I S R A E L
Gaza is arguably the world's largest open-air prison. Its 1.5 million
residents are packed into an area 45 km long x 10 km wide, while
Israel controls its air space and borders. Over 80% of the
population are refugees denied their legal Right to Return to the
homes and lands from which they were expelled in 1948. Israel
also illegally restricts Palestinian freedom of movement into and
out of Gaza.
Gaza has been under complete siege since June 2007, during
which time its inhabitants have been cut off from sufficient fuel,
food, and medicine. Before the recent Israeli attacks, the UN
reported that Gazans were living without power for up to 16
hours each day; half its population was receiving water only
once a week for a few hours; 80% of the water in Gaza did not
meet World Health Organization standards for drinking; the
unemployment rate had risen to almost 50%; only 23 of 3,900
industrial enterprises were operational ; 80% were living below
the poverty line; and more than 56% were food insecure
In January 2008, UN Special Rapporteur John Dugard stated, "a
distinction must be drawn between acts of mindless terror and
acts committed in the course of a war of national liberation
against colonialism, apartheid or military occupation. While such
acts cannot be justified, they must be understood as being a
painful but inevitable consequence of colonialism, apartheid or
occupation." Israeli and Palestinian violence can in no way be
viewed as symmetrical – individual Palestinians have chosen to
resist their occupiers with largely ineffective home-made rockets,
while the Israeli state, which boasts the fourth most powerful
military in the world, has responded by collectively punishing the
captive population that it illegally occupies.
Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, collective punishment is a
war crime. As the occupier, the burden is on Israel to end its
state violence. Israel is an apartheid state. South Africa must
sever diplomatic ties with Israel and implement sanctions against
it until Israel complies with international law.
Apartheid was bad for South Africa; it is bad for Palestine and
Israel.
The Palestine Solidarity Committee calls on all South African to take
sides in the current ISraeli carnage on Palestinians.
Do both parties deserve an 'equal hearing' in a situation of
domestic violence where a woman gets beaten up by a male
who was abused by his father some time ago because 'the
victim, too, is a victim'? Why must someone else suffer because
the husband was abused by some other male yesterday? Whose
story are we really tuned into and whose interest do we serve by
opting for so-called even-handedness between slave and slave
master?
