18.11.2012 – Besieged Gaza, Occupied Palestine
Four years after the Israeli Occupation Forces perpetrated a massacre upon the population of Gaza, Apartheid Israel commits another crime. The latest round of Israeli war crimes has resulted in a new massacre ; at the time of writing more than 40 innocent civilians, including 15 children, have been murdered brutally as they slept in their own houses. More than 400 have been critically injured.
We request that the citizens of the world oppose this deadly crime. We no longer rely on governments. The failure of the United Nations and its numerous organizations to condemn such crimes proves their complicity. Only civil society is able to mobilize to demand the application of international law and put an end to Israel’s impunity. The intervention of civil society was effective in the late 1980s against the apartheid regime of South Africa. Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have not only described Israel’s oppressive and violent control of Palestinians as Apartheid, they have also joined this call for the world’s civil society to intervene again.
We, therefore, ask people of conscience and civil society organizations to put pressure on their governments until Israel is forced to abide by international law and international humanitarian
law. Without the intervention of the international community which was effective against apartheid in South Africa, Israel will continue its war crimes and crimes against humanity, as articulated by the Goldstone report.
We call on civil society organizations worldwide to intensify the anti-Israel sanctions campaign to compel Israel to end to its aggression.
The international conspiracy of silence towards the genocidal war taking place against the 1.5 million civilians in Gaza indicates complicity in these war crimes.
We call upon the international community to demand that the rouge State of Israel end its siege and compensate for the destruction of life and infrastructure that it has visited upon the Palestinian people. We alse call upon all Palestine solidarity groups and all international civil society organisations to demand:
– An end to occupation, Apartheid and other war crimes committed by Israel
– An end to the siege that has been imposed on the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip since 2006.
– The protection of civilian lives and property, as stipulated in International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law such as The Fourth Geneva Convention.
– That Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip be provided with material support to cope with the immense hardship that they are experiencing..
– Immediate reparations and compensation for all destruction carried out by the Israeli Occupation Forces in the Gaza Strip.
– Holding Israeli generals and leaders accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against the civilians of Gaza.
Signatory Organizations:
Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions
The One Democratic State Group
University Teachers’ Association
Palestinian Students’ Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel