The question of Palestine
On Monday the Embassy of the State of Palestine in Pretoria issued a statement on Israeli war crimes in Palestine. What follows are the excerpts from the statement.
Since the beginning of July, at least 510 Palestinians have been killed by Israel. This includes over 120 children, and about 85 women. More than 3 600 Palestinians have been injured in the bombardment by Israel from air, sea and land. Many of the victims are in critical condition, and will never live normal lives again as hundreds have required amputations in order to save their lives. More than 2 000 Palestinian homes have been demolished, or severely damaged. Schools, hospitals and health centres, ministries and religious sites have been destroyed. Over 135 000 people have been displaced. Israeli destruction of electricity, water and sanitation infrastructure has affected 95% of the population in the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Embassy characterised this as a "genocide on a large civilian population". Israel claims "to be limiting civilian causalities". On the contrary, it in fact often clearly targets them, "such as the 4 Palestinian boys under the age of 12 who witnesses say were deliberately killed by an Israeli strike while they were playing football on the beach". Last Saturday night alone, the Israeli campaign claimed at least 100 Palestinian lives in Shejaeyya. lmages of dead children with their heads blown open flooded the streets, while ambulances had difficulty reaching the injured and dead due to the dangers of entering the area and due to the sheer size of the pile of rubble they had to search between to pull the bodies out from.
The Ministry of Health in Palestine has reported that Israel has been using illegal poisonous gases, such as sarin gas, suffocating its victims. This is not the first time Israel has used illegal weapons on the civilian population, while denying these claims even though clear evidence is presented. The brutality of the Israeli aggression on the people of Gaza has caused a medical humanitarian crisis as those hospitals that have not been bombed are short of medication to help the overwhelming influx of injured civilians. These hospitals are also without electricity, exacerbating the desperate medical crisis.
What does Israel, its principal backer the US and its allies, and supporters say?
"This is self-defence".
Is that so?
In the first place Israel has been established in Palestine just after the Second World War. It was given a large land area compared to the people of Palestine. But has since been advancing its expansionist policy in the territory. More and more Israel has actually been making conditions impossible for the right of the Palestinians to have their own state. Over the years, Israel has expropriated more Palestinian land. Atrocious such as massacre and the brutality highlighted from the excerpts of the Monday statement by the Palestinian Embassy in Pretoria for decades been part of Israeli strategy.
The crash of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH-17 exposed the hypocrisy of the US and its allies. US President Barack Obama and his European allies were not only quick to condemn the crash, but also to opportunistically start pointing fingers, masquerading as the world's human rights police. This they did while, on the other hand, they are the ones who in the first instance caused the war in Ukraine, consequently, if the flight was shot down, also the conditions for this war crime. The US and its European allies have supported one of the sides in the war, the neo-Nazis who overthrew the democratically elected government through a coup d'état and organised mock elections to legitimise it. Similarly, the US and its European allies are part of the forces that have been providing support to Israel.
What is to be done?
The Israeli genocidal campaign, altogether with other killings, must stop with immediate effect. Israel must immediately evacuate all occupied Palestinian territories, dating back to the pre-1967 period. This must pave the way for the establishment and immediate recognition by the United Nations of a viable and sovereign Palestinian state. Politically, the campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel must be intensified across the world. In South Africa this is more urgent than ever, given our direct experience of apartheid. Israel is today's apartheid state, just as South Africa was in the past. The difference is that apartheid, which is declared a crime against humanity, has become worse in Israel than it was in South Africa.
Alex Mashilo is SACP Spokesperson
This article first appeared in the SACP's online journal, Umsebenzi Online.
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