Received a response from Lord Ashdown regarding Israel - Palestine: Thank you for your letter It is claimed that Israel entered Gaza only to defend itself and that she has done her best to minimise civilian casualties, not least by warning civilians before launching attacks. However, under the existing rules of war, the fact that you are fired on from a civilian area, does not and cannot, as Israel seems to claim, justify the use of indiscriminate, overwhelming force against that area, whatever the provocation. Warning those who live there beforehand does not alter this (most especially in an area as crowded as Gaza). This is the law our troops had to obey in N.Ireland. It is the dilemma NATO troops were faced with in Afghanistan and the rules they had to observe. And it is the law that applies to Israel in Gaza and which, in the opinion of may (including now the White House) they have broken. To give just one example. To have lethally shelled one UN protected school/safe haven in Gaza could be put down to an error. But to have shelled no less than six (these are UN figures) cannot be described as other than either criminally careless or carelessly indiscriminate. There can be no doubt that Hamas has committed a clearly illegal and probably criminal act by indiscriminately rocketting Israel. But Israel has now done the same in the disproportionality of its response in Gaza, whatever its motives in doing so. What should Israel have done when Hamas attacked them with rockets? Nothing. They have the best anti-missile system in the world and an effective system of self defence - which is proved that despite THOUSANDS (Israels figures) of Hamas rockets only 2 civilians have been killed. Whenever you react to the provocation of your enemy you do your enemys business - and that is what Israel cannot stop itself doing. If she had sat tight, the total casualties now would have been around 2 (as they are at present); she would have the international community on her side. And THEY would have had the responsibility of resolving the situation and dealing with Hamas (which has no support among the Arabs beyond Qatar) By taking the military option in Gaza Israel has raised her number of dead to more than 60 and rising, killed well over 1000 people in Gaza, most of them civilians and a lot of them children, acted as recruiting sergeant for Hamas which will now have recruits flooding to their door, made implacable enemies of most of her neighbours and lost the sympathy of world opinion. Not much of a dividend for an operation that still shows no signs of succeeding! I fear that Israel is now following the policy most likely to bring about its worst fears - the creation of a united front of enmity in the region which will threaten her existence while diminishing her support in the international community, including amongst those who are her natural friends. I do not include myself in the latter category. My support for Israels right to exist in peace has not diminished. I have deep respect Israel as a state and a very high regard for its gifted and courageous citizens. I will not in anyway diminish my opposition to those who would seek to place in jeopardy Israels right to peace. And I will do whatever needs to be done to stand up for this right. But that does not include making excuses for Israel when she acts in a way which in my judgement is contrary to her best interests and in contravention of the international laws everyone else has to obey. Regards, Paddy Ashdown
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 13:08:02 +0000
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