[E-rundbrief] Info 715 - Gush Shalom: Free Gaza

[Matthias Reichl]

E-Rundbrief - Info 715 - Gush Shalom (Israel): Free Gaza boats to sail 
again. Urging international community to follow up with major 
humanitarian intervention (against Israeli's strangulation of Gaza).

Bad Ischl, 14.9.2008

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit

www.begegnungszentrum.at

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Free Gaza boats to sail again

Gush Shalom, 11/09/08

Urging international community to follow up with major humanitarian 
intervention

The Free Gaza Movement calls upon the international community to join 
the Movement's efforts to help end the human suffering created by 
Israeli's strangulation of Gaza.

On August 23, 2008, 44 ordinary people from 17 countries sailed from 
Cyprus to Gaza on two small wooden boats, the SS Free Gaza and the SS 
Liberty. The Free Gaza Movement did what our governments would not do -- 
take action to defend the health, lives, and dignity of 1.5 million 
Palestinians under siege in the Gaza Strip. We proved that Israel cannot 
sustain its illegal blockade in the face of widely reported humanitarian 
efforts by non-violent activists acting in accordance with international 
law. Today we call for a much broader effort; specifically, we are 
calling on other members of the international community -- governments, 
non-governmental organizations, and others dedicated to protecting human 
rights -- to join us by providing their own ships, humanitarian goods, 
and human capital to throw open wide the sea link to Gaza.

Despite its high profile pullout of illegal settlements and military 
presence from Gaza in August and September 2005, Israel maintains 
"effective control" over the Gaza Strip and therefore remains an 
occupying force with certain obligations (1). Among Israel's most 
fundamental obligations as an occupying power is to provide for the 
health, safety, and welfare of the Palestinian civilian population. An 
occupying force has a duty to ensure the food and medical supplies of 
the population, as well as maintain hospitals and other medical 
services, "to the fullest extent of the means available to it" (Fourth 
Geneva Convention, arts. 55, 56). This includes protecting civilian 
hospitals, medical personnel, and the wounded and sick. In addition, a 
fundamental principle of International Humanitarian Law, as well as of 
the domestic laws of civilized nations, is that collective punishment 
against a civilian population is forbidden (Fourth Geneva Convention, 
art. 33).

Israel has grossly abused its authority as an occupying power, not only 
neglecting to provide for the welfare of the Palestinian civilian 
population, but instituting policies designed to collectively punish the 
Palestinians of Gaza, policies which have created a humanitarian crisis. 
 From fuel and electricity cuts that hinder the proper functioning of 
hospitals to the deliberate obstruction of humanitarian aid delivery 
through Israeli-controlled borders, Israel's policies towards the Gaza 
Strip have turned Gaza into a man-made humanitarian disaster.

When a massive earthquake rocked China and cyclones ravaged Myanmar, the 
world responded. Governments and civilians alike rallied to help, as 
they did when other recent natural calamities occurred. Yet world 
governments have watched a man-made humanitarian catastrophe unfold 
before our eyes in Gaza and have remained silent. Karen Koning Abu Zayd, 
head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), has asserted 
that "Gaza is on the threshold of becoming the first territory to be 
intentionally reduced to a state of abject destitution, with the 
knowledge, acquiescence and -- some would say -- encouragement of the 
international community."

It's time to end this silent complicity. On September 22, 2008, the Free 
Gaza Movement will once again set sail for Gaza. However, the 
humanitarian needs in Gaza are overwhelming, and the continuous 
operation of our two small boats cannot even begin to meet those needs. 
Gazans need medical supplies and basic life support systems, and 
hundreds if not thousands need to leave Gaza for medical care that 
Israel continues to block. We have proven that the sea link to Gaza can 
be viable and should be available to the Palestinian people. We urge 
governments, non-governmental organizations, and any others who are in a 
position to alleviate the shameful suffering caused by Israel to provide 
ships, materiel, health care professionals, lawyers, and all other forms 
of humanitarian aid immediately, and to join us in asserting that the 
Palestinian people have a right to access the outside world. The world 
cannot stay silent as the Palestinian people are deliberately starved 
and humiliated; Palestinians have a right to life with dignity.

For More Information, Please Contact:

--Brussels: Paul Larudee, Ph.D,+35 799 079 736 / friendsofgaza at gmail.com

--Jerusalem: Huwaida Arraf, Attorney at Law, +972 599 130 426 / 
huwaidaa at riseup.net

--USA: Thomas H. Nelson, Attorney at Law, +1 503 709 6397 / 
nelson at thnelson.com

References 1. Article 42 of the Hague Regulations of 1907 stipulates, a 
"territory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the 
authority of the hostile army," and that the occupation extends "to the 
territory where such authority has been established and can be 
exercised." [Laws and Customs of War on Land (Hague IV); October 18, 
1907, MILITARY AUTHORITY OVER THE TERRITORY OF THE HOSTILE STATE, 
Article 42.] Similarly, in the Hostage Case the Nuremburg Tribunal held 
that, "the test for application of the legal regime of occupation is not 
whether the occupying power fails to exercise effective control over the 
territory, but whether it has the ability to exercise such power." 
[U.S.A v. Wilhelm List, Nuremberg Tribunal, 1948.] Palestinians living 
in the Gaza Strip, like those in the West Bank, continue to be subject 
to Israeli control. For example, Israel controls Gaza's air space, 
territorial waters, and all land border crossings. Palestinians in Gaza 
require Israel's consent to travel to and from Gaza through the land 
crossings, to take their goods to Palestinian and foreign markets, to 
acquire food and medicine, and to access water and electricity. Without 
Israel's permission, the Palestinian Authority (PA) cannot perform such 
basic functions of government as providing social, health, security, and 
utility services, developing the Palestinian economy, and allocating 
resources.

http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/archive/1221219840/

-- 

Matthias Reichl, Pressesprecher/ press speaker,
Begegnungszentrum fuer aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
Center for Encounter and active Non-Violence
Wolfgangerstr. 26, A-4820 Bad Ischl, Austria,
fon: +43 6132 24590, Informationen/ informations,
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