60th anniversary of Nakba Palestine May 15th 2008

Dear Members of the United Nations Security Council,

We are deeply shocked at the indifference of the Security Council to the holocaust in the making in Gaza as a result of the policies and actions taken by Israel , and supported by the United States and the European Union, against 1.5 million Palestinians living there.

In April 2006, after Hamass victory in the fairest and freest democratic elections held in the Arab world, the US and EU, not only suspended all international aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) government, but also prevented any other aid reaching it. Israel refused to hand over taxes collected on behalf of the PA government. The US and the EU colluded with Israel to impose a cruel economic blockade on the helpless Palestinians under Israeli occupation.

In the summer of 2006, Israel carried out massive sustained bombing attacks on Gaza which destroyed roads, bridges, sewage treatment facilities, water purification and electrical power plants. Also hundreds of civilians were killed or seriously injured.

After Hamass recent take over of Gaza , the economic blockade has been further tightened which has increased unemployment, poverty and hunger to unprecedented levels. Israeli strangulation of Gaza is leading to the collapse of its economy.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has urged Israel to open all border crossing points into Gaza . He said: If what is left of Gaza s economy is allowed to collapse, poverty levels already affecting two-thirds of households will rise further, and the people of Gaza will become near totally aid dependent.

Recently, Hardad-Zervos of the World Bank warned: The pillars of Gaza s economy have weakened over the years. Now, with a sustained closure on this current scale, they would be at risk of virtually irreversible collapse. A solution must be reached very soon, if not immediately He said that 3,190 businesses were closed in the last month alone, leaving more than 65,000 people unemployed. Unemployment could reach the unprecedented level of 44 percent.

In furtherance of its plan to provoke a revolt against the Hamas government, the Israeli cabinet has, a few days ago, voted to declare the occupied Gaza strip hostile entity and threatened to cut off the supply of fuel and electricity which are essential human needs. This, like the economic blockade and the bombing attacks on civilian targets, is clearly in violation of the UN Charter and international law. But, sadly, except for a meek statement from the Secretary General, the Council has done nothing to stop Israel s trashing of international law and civilized norms.

The collective punishment of the people of Gaza by Israel is reminiscent of the Nazi treatment of the Jews during the Second World War. Professor Richard Falk, a Jew and a leading expert on international law, does not think that it is an irresponsible overstatement to associate the treatment of Palestinians with the criminalised Nazi record of collective atrocity.

In an article for the Turkish newspaper ZAMAN, Falk wrote: The entire population of Gaza is treated as the enemy of Israel and little pretext is made in Tel Aviv of acknowledging the innocence of this long victimised society. To persist with such an approach under present circumstances is indeed genocidal, and risks destroying an entire Palestinian community that is an integral part of an ethnic whole. It is this prospect that makes appropriate the warning of a Palestinian holocaust in the making, and should remind the world of the famous post-Nazi pledge never again.

The Charter of the United Nations promises that the United Nations is determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights of nations large and small, to establish conditions under which justice and respect for obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom. Thus the United Nations was created with the hope that it will promote international peace, end colonialism and improve the economic and social well-being of billions of people steeped in poverty and facing marginalization as a result of hundreds of years of colonial oppression and exploitation.

Unfortunately, particularly since the ending of the Cold War, the Council has become a tool for the promotion of the foreign policy interests of the United States of America . It is now a weapon in the hands of the richest and most powerful nation to bully, oppress and exploit the poor and weak nations. For example, sanctions are imposed on Iran for enriching uranium, which is permitted under international law, while Israel goes unpunished for Judaising East Jerusalem through ethnic cleansing and imposing collective punishment on the Palestinian population, which are crimes against humanity and a violation of the UN mandate.

Many believe that it is the hypocrisy and double standard practiced by the US and EU with regard to the Palestinian- Israeli conflict, and your acquiescence in Israels contemptuous violation of the UN Charter, Security Council resolutions and international law that is pushing the victims of oppression and their supporters to seek violent paths to end their oppression.

The UN Charter has mandated to you the responsibility for maintaining international peace and security. Inaction on your part to check Israel s rogue behaviour will inevitably lead to more violence, armed conflicts, terrorism and probably war. Therefore we urge you to adopt a resolution under Chapter 7 of the Charter:

1. Calling on Israel to rescind its cabinet decision to declare Gaza a hostile entity and not to interfere with the supply of food, electricity, water and fuel to Gaza residents.

2. Calling on Israel to lift the economic blockade of the Occupied Palestinian Territory , end the siege of Gaza , and implement the findings and recommendations of the International Court of Justice.

3.Calling on Israel to immediately halt all settlement building and expansion activities in the occupied Palestinian territory.

4.. Calling on all parties for the immediate cessation of military operations and all acts of violence, terror, provocation, incitement and destruction between the Israeli and Palestinian sides, including extrajudicial executions, bombardment against civilian areas, air raids and the firing of rockets.
5.. Calling upon Israel , the occupying Power, to scrupulously abide by its obligations and responsibilities under the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory , including East Jerusalem ;
6.. Calling upon Israel to comply with all its legal obligations as urged by the International Court of Justice in its advisory opinion.

7.. Calling on Israel to ensure that medical and humanitarian organizations are granted unhindered access to the Palestinian civilian population at all times and of allowing the severely injured a speedy exit outside the Occupied Palestinian Territory for needed treatment, and emphasizes also the importance of the implementation of the Agreement of Movement and Access of November 2005.