In Gaza, the Nakba is ongoing and you can help us end it

A Palestinian elder participating in a commemoration of the 67th anniversary of the Nakba — Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestine — in Gaza on 15 May, holds a sign that says “Haifa, we will return.”

Abed Rahim Khatib APA images

The following call was issued today by the Palestinian Boycott National Committee (BNC) and the undersigned Palestinian organizations in Gaza on the occasion of Nakba Day, the commemoration of Israel’s 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestine:

As Palestinians commemorate the Nakba, the catastrophe in 1948 when more than 700,000 indigenous Palestinians were ethnically cleansed from their homes by Zionist militias and later the State of Israel, life in the occupied and besieged Gaza Strip is reaching a fatal tipping point, as the UN has warned.

Close to two million Palestinians are incarcerated by Israel in a small space, condemned to a life of misery, where not even water, the source of life, is fit for human consumption. The provision of basic services such as health and education is faltering and the alarm must be sounded. This is an Israeli-made tsunami that can be stopped if enough people of conscience around the world would hold Israel to account and pressure their institutions and governments to do so. Israel must pay a heavy price for its criminal behavior.

Unspeakable suffering

If ever there was a right time to isolate a rogue regime to prevent it from committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, it is now. We, the undersigned Palestinian civil society organizations in Gaza, call for urgent and effective measures of accountability, including boycotts, divestment and meaningful sanctions, against Israel and the corporations that are complicit in its serious violations of international law, to save hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians in Gaza from a fate of unspeakable suffering and slow death.

Israel’s massacre in Gaza in the summer of 2014 left approximately 2,300 of our people dead and damaged or destroyed our schools, hospitals, UN shelters and thousands of our homes. Eight months on, Gaza remains in ruins, yet at least 100,000 people remain homeless. Of the 12,600 houses that were totally destroyed, not one has yet been rebuilt.

To Palestinians everywhere, and in Gaza in particular, the 1948 Nakba is ongoing.

Despite the so-called ceasefire, Israel’s often deadly attacks on Palestinians in Gaza are continuous, especially on fishers in the “access restricted areas” along the boundary with Israel and off the Gaza coast. Access restricted areas were among the most hit during the massacre and still continue to suffer Israel’s violations of international law and Palestinian human rights.

At the root of this grave human suffering is Israel’s ongoing occupation and illegal eight-year siege, which severely restricts movement of people, goods and reconstruction materials. Health and education services have been severely impaired as well.

The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt has been open just a handful of times so far this year. On average, just 198 people have been able to leave Gaza through the Rafah crossing each week during 2014, down from 955 during 2014.

UN enforcing Israel’s siege

As of February 2015, just 1,661 trucks (containing approximately 105,307 tons) of the 800,000 trucks of material needed to reconstruct destroyed homes and other buildings have been allowed to enter Gaza. The failure of international donors to release pledged funds has exacerbated severe energy shortages. Electricity is still only available for a few hours per day.

The United Nations Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism, the international community’s main response, is fundamentally flawed in a way that deepens the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza. The reconstruction mechanism makes the international community, and the UN in particular, the enforcers of the Israeli siege and makes aid to Palestinians conditional on Israeli approval.

As much as 71 percent of the aid pledged by international donors is expected to benefit the Israeli economy, effectively rewarding Israel for its massacre of Palestinians. Many of the companies supplying the construction efforts are illegally involved in the crime of pillage of Palestinian natural resources and/or participate in the construction of illegal settlements.

Obstructing justice

Many western governments are seeking to prevent Palestinians from taking cases against Israel to the International Criminal Court. Last July, the US voted against the establishment of a UN Gaza Commission of Inquiry, and several EU member states including France, Germany and the UK abstained from voting.

The US and Germany look set to continue their vast military support for Israel, while the European Union has maintained its Association Agreement with Israel, affording it access to EU markets and programs, and the Canadian government has even signed a raft of new agreements with Israel.

Even those countries in the global south that speak in clearer terms of their support for the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination have failed to translate their symbolic gestures into ending their military links and preferential trade agreements with Israel.

You can act

Given the human catastrophe that Gaza is facing and Israel’s threats of more atrocities, we call on governments and international bodies to take immediate action to:

  • Ensure Israel is held to account for its war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza, including by supporting Palestinians in seeking justice at the International Criminal Court.

  • End direct support for Israeli war crimes, including by imposing a comprehensive military embargo and suspending free trade agreements and other bilateral agreements until such time as Israel complies with international law, including lifting the siege on Gaza.

  • Provide immediate international protection to civilians in Gaza, including by providing financial and material support to help Palestinians to cope with the immense hardship they continue to experience.

We warmly thank the countless people of conscience and principled organizations around the world who stand in solidarity with our struggle for freedom, justice and equality, and call on international civil society, including trade unions, nongovernmental organizations, grassroots networks, political parties and parliamentarians to:

  • Join and build the Palestinian-led, global boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement as a key tool to ensure Israel is held to account for its violations of international law in Gaza and against Palestinians everywhere, including by pressuring universities, banks and pension funds to divest from companies profiting from Israel’s occupation and war crimes.

  • Pressure governments to impose military embargoes and trade sanctions.

  • Campaign against corporate criminals, such as military company Elbit Systems, security firm G4S and key Israeli military supplier HP. that enable Israeli violations of international law.

Signed

  • Palestinian BDS National Committee
  • Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU)
  • Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO)
  • University Teachers’ Society in Palestine
  • Palestinian Medical Relief Society
  • Palestinian Association for Development and Reconstruction (PADR)
  • Medical Democratic Assembly
  • Palestinian Student Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel (PSCABI)
  • Medical Initiative Assembly
  • Arab Center for Agricultural Development (ACAD)
  • Union of Health Work Committees
  • One Democratic State Group
  • Herak Youth Center
  • Badr Campaign for Boycott of Israeli Goods

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Comments

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Everyone, right thinking, fair minded or otherwise, needs to consider once again whether or not the current circumstances in Gaza set a desirable standard for us all to uphold now and in the future, about how one stronger party should treat the weaker. Know for sure though that history has never recorded, and will never record, any party as being in a stronger position all the time. The Earth rotates, what goes around, comes around. Someday, you may be treated exactly the way you treat others now. PONDER WELL..

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The overwhelming and far reaching view of Americans and other westerners that I am aware of believe that helping Palestine will result in more actions against us by Muslim extremism in the future. Some view Israel as being on the front line protecting the world from terrorist attacks. I am looking here for input on this view from this site because it is hard to stand by and read about the slaughter of anyone, much less children by miltary forces. I have read about these atrocities for several decades, but information that is unbiased is hard to come by in the mainstream Western media. I apologize for my ignorance on this matter, but I assure you it is not just me. All I would like is a differing viewpoint to address in casual conversation to people like me who are largely ignorant of the Palestinian plight. Thank you.

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If you know what's going on, you should have no trouble talking to Americans. Ilan Pappe says that if you are going to be an activist YOU MUST DO YOUR READING. The New Historians are all you need, just one book will do. Clearly you know where to get your current events!
It's easy to talk to Americans because they are curious/interested/worried, so take advantage of it. Examples:
1. Christian friends: tell them what's happening to Bethlehem, Nazareth, Jerusalem. travel there yourself if you need motivation, it's shocking.
2. Fear of terrorists: tell them that the US trained binLaden and is arming the worst extremists plus Saudi Arabia which is where the beheading stuff comes from. the US is creating more "terrorists" than it is killing, which by the way, is terrorism because dropping bombs from drones and invading other countries is way worse than anything anyone has done to the US.
3. the only people that say Israel is on "the front lines" are politicians and Israeli morons. Even if you think that occupying Iraq/Afghanistan/Syria/Libya/Yemen/Somalia/too many etc, is some sort of war against people who want to blow up your house (do you really think that???) then just tell them how many US soldiers have died doing that and are still doing it versus how many Israeli soldiers... you can at least get them to wonder. I always do!
4. enjoy it. if you don't, then find another way to help BDS. anything is good, and as they say, DO WHAT YOU ARE GOOD AT. that's the best! good luck.

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The Muslim Extremism is a result of the Arab Governments not able to stop the humiliation Israel is causing for their Palestinian brothers several times a day.
The Balfour Declaration 1917 was a huge aggression against Arabs and Humanity. Aggression against Arabs was then led by the US insisting on the superiority of Israel against all Arab military forces. That superiority keeps granting Israel's humiliation for the Palestinians and Arabs, US keep supporting, Arab Governments cannot react. The Arabic People are looking at their Palestinian brothers treated in Israel in a manner that was never accepted for animals with the support of all Permanent Security Council Members, and in the eyes of the Arab Governments with their wealth spended on arms unused and getting rotten.
That can cause less than 1% to get frustrated to an insane criminal acts

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There is book called 'The General's Son;' I'm not too sure of the author's name but the title tell you 'who' (not whom) wrote it. Look it up it is a first hand account of the myths that surround the Occupation of Palestine; I'm sure you will find the answers you're looking for.

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Thank you for the recommendation. I have yet to read that book, but now I will. Highly rated on Amazon.

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The view you expressed is almost exactly the opposite of the truth.

For one thing, the abstract, poorly-defined threat of "terrorism" has no front lines. And even if it did, the idea that Israel's targets (armed or civilian) are the ones plotting to attack America or "the West" is erroneous. Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah have nothing to do with Al Qaeda or ISIS, and the latter two themselves do not appear to have front lines.

For another, virtually all national security/intelligence personnel claim it is the opposite, and that it is US support for ISRAEL that is driving opposition to the United States, including some in the form of terrorist violence.

See David Petraeus on the Israeli occupation "costing American lives".

See former CIA Bin Laden-unit director Michael Scheuer who says that Bin Laden was motivated in part by US support for Israel and that continued US support for Israel is driving much anti-American sentiment.

The 9/11 Commission Report also discusses this fact, as have former FBI Director Robert Mueller, former CIA Ray McGovern, former CIA/Head of White House Task Force Against Terrorism Edward Peck, former CIA Philip Giraldi, and others.

Worth noting, these men have also often admitted as much about US policies as a whole. US policies in the Middle East are driving anti-Americanism, with blind support for Israeli aggression against Palestinians being one of the most brazen.