Step up the boycott campaign.

[Thinking Man's Idiot]

We must participate

(Wednesday 19 November 2008)

JOHN WIGHT






As Israel holds Gaza hostage, JOHN WIGHT argues that the time has come to step up the boycott campaign.



THE imprisonment of 1.5 million human beings in the Gaza Strip is a crime that shames the world.

As the euphoria and excitement surrounding Barack Obama's election continues to occupy news commentators, Israel is pursuing a policy of collective punishment against a people who are being punished for refusing to submit to apartheid policies.


Former UN commissioner for human rights Mary Robinson spoke out recently over the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza following a visit to the area.


She found it "almost unbelievable" that the world did not care about this "shocking violation of so many human rights."


The UN announced last week that the Gaza Strip would run out of food within days due to Israel's continued blockade.


A small convoy of critical UN food and medical supplies has since been allowed in. It is not nearly enough, says UN refugee agency spokesman Chris Gunness.


"This will be gone in a matter of days. And what happens then? What we need is proper, consistent, long-term and large-scale access. Without that, UNRWA is operating with its hands tied behind its back."


Hardly a peep of protest has been heard from our political leaders despite this glaring man-made humanitarian crisis. We have simply heard the usual empty rhetoric about a non-existent peace process whose provisions are either kept or broken at Israel's pleasure.


British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has criticised the continued spread of illegal settlements on the West Bank during a visit to the region. But, for a state with long experience in flouting international law with impunity, gentle criticism from Miliband is likely to have about as much effect as windscreen wipers on a submarine.


This deafening silence from on high is compounded by a supine mainstream news media. To judge by the lack of coverage of this growing crisis, the lives of 1.5 millions Palestinians are of less value than an offensive message left by two celebrities on the answering machine of a well-known actor.


This lack of interest provides further evidence that, where Israel is concerned, the violation of international law is to be allowed to continue with no end in sight.


Back in March, a report by a coalition of humanitarian and human rights organisations concluded that the humanitarian situation in Gaza had become worse than at any time since the start of the Israeli occupation in 1967.


The joint report by Amnesty International, CARE International UK, CAFOD, Christian Aid, Médecins du Monde UK, Oxfam, Save The Children UK and Trócaire affirmed that Israel's blockade of Gaza represents the collective punishment of an entire civilian population. They labelled the Israeli government's blockade policy unacceptable and illegal and underlined that it fails to deliver security for either Palestinians or Israelis.


"Unemployment has soared and 80 per cent of people in Gaza are now dependent on food aid compared to 63 per cent in 2006," said CARE International UK chief executive Geoffrey Dennis.


"Water and sewage infrastructure is on the point of total collapse. Unless the blockade ends now, it will be impossible to pull Gaza back from the brink of this disaster and any hopes for peace in the region will be dashed."


The coalition found that the blockade of Gaza had dramatically worsened levels of poverty and unemployment and led to the deterioration of education and health services. Over 1.1 million people were now dependent on food aid and, of 110,000 workers previously employed in the private sector, 75,000 workers had lost their jobs.


"Punishing the entire Gazan population by denying them basic human rights is utterly indefensible," said Amnesty International UK director Kate Allen. "The current situation is man-made and must be reversed."


The Egyptian government and the EU are willing partners in Israel's blockade, a fact that I experienced earlier this year as part of an international delegation attempting to transport medical supplies to Gaza across the Sinai Desert. We were stopped and turned back at an Egyptian checkpoint.


Israel attempts to justify its blockade by citing home-made rocket attacks into Israel from Gaza by Palestinian militants. Yet the right of resistance to occupation is enshrined in international law. And, time and time again, ceasefire agreements drawn up between Israel and Hamas, which was still the legally and democratically mandated government of Palestine, have produced nothing. A blockade designed to turn Palestinian against Palestinian has continued.


As this state policy of collective punishment, home demolitions, targeted assassinations, imprisonment without trial and daily humiliation wrought against an entire people continues, comparisons with the apartheid regime of South Africa are unavoidable.


Just as with apartheid South Africa, an international campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel has grown in response to the pleas of its victims.


Given the extent of the humanitarian crisis currently unfolding in Gaza, participation in this international boycott campaign in solidarity with the Palestinians has gone beyond choice. Now, it is duty.