a ceasefire is not enough. We demand justice. We demand accountability. We demand to be treated as human beings, to have our inherent human dignity recognized. We demand an end to the closure of the Gaza Strip. For the last seven years, Israel has subjected the Gaza Strip to a strict closure. By shutting the borders, Israel has slowly suffocated Gaza, subjecting us to a process of deliberate de-development. Before the current offensive, 65 percent of the population were unpaid or unemployed. Eight-five percent of the population depended on food aid distributed by international organizations. Patients requiring life-saving treatment unavailable in the Gaza Strip were denied permission to leave. They died. Life under the closure is not life. We cannot go back to this reality. I cannot imagine another seven years. The closure signifies the absence of hope. It means that Gaza’s youth have no future. No jobs. No opportunity to leave. Even when the war comes, we cannot flee. But the closure is only one half of the reality of the Gaza Strip. The other is the total absence of the rule of law. War crimes are committed with complete impunity. The closure itself is a war crime and it is official policy of the government of Israel. Beside this there are the constant attacks and the frequent offensives. This is the third major offensive since the closure began. Literally thousands of civilians have been killed. Thousands more homes and livelihoods have been destroyed. These war crimes are committed with complete impunity. After Operation Cast Lead — the 27 December 2008 to 18 January 2009 offensive — PCHR submitted 490 criminal complaints on behalf of 1,046 victims. In the five years that followed, we received only 44 responses. The Israeli authorities decided that 446 cases didn’t even warrant a reply. The results? One soldier was convicted for the theft of a credit card and received a seven-month sentence. Two soldiers were convicted for using a nine-year-old boy as a human shield. They each received a three-month suspended sentence. One soldier was convicted for the “misuse of a firearm” in relation to the shooting of a group of civilians carrying white flags, which resulted in the deaths of two women. He was sentenced to 45 days imprisonment. This is not justice. The impact of these constant war crimes, and the resultant impunity denies our very dignity, our worth as human beings. It says our lives are not sacred. That we don’t count. Faced with this existence, our demands are not excessive. They are not unrealistic. electronicintifada.net/content/why-gaza-ceasefire-isnt-enough/13692
Posted on: Tue, 05 Aug 2014 17:00:07 +0000
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