Israel wrong in Rafah

Letters

This letter was written to Bill Graham, Canada's minister of foreign affairs. It is reprinted with permission.

Dear Mr. Graham:

As of May 21, there have been 40 Palestinians – many of them young children – killed during the Israeli army's ironically named "Operation Rainbow" in Gaza, particularly in the Rafah refugee camp. More than 1,100 people have been left homeless due to the demolition of houses, which Amnesty International has called "collective punishment" in violation of the Geneva Convention. The homeless have multiplied the already huge number of people without shelter from previous army operations.

The Israeli human rights organization, B'Tselem, has condemned these actions, as has the United Nations Security Council, in a unanimous 14-0 decision (with the U.S. abstaining, but not exercising its veto). The UN's special human rights envoy for the West Bank and Gaza, Prof. John Dugard, said, "These actions constitute war crimes ... and [violate] both humanitarian law and international human rights law." He called on the UN "to take appropriate action to stop the violence" by "the imposition of a mandatory arms embargo."

Israel's justification for its actions in Rafah was the heavy loss of life suffered by its soldiers. But Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen, speaking for the European Union of which he is currently the president, regarding the bloody events of May 19, said: "It is clear that today's action was completely disproportionate to any threat faced by the Israeli military, and that Israeli forces showed a reckless disregard for human life." The action to which he referred was the one in which Israeli forces fired rockets into a peaceful crowd in Rafah, killing and wounding many children.

The Israeli daily Ha'aretz, in editorials on May 18 and 19, respectively, labelled the Israeli actions part of a "colonialist war" and said that "the entire settlement enterprise has been one big tragedy." In an article published in the New York Times (May 21, 2004), its correspondent James Bennet, described thus the scene on May 19 referred to above: "Men with agony in their faces ran carrying little boys who bled from many shrapnel wounds. It was bedlam, panic, a vertiginous glimpse of hell."

Does anyone really believe that these actions by the Israeli forces will curb terrorism and lead to a more secure Israel? A cogent answer was given at a meeting of more than 1,000 Torontonians on May 19 by Ami Ayalon, a decorated retired Israeli admiral and co-founder of the People's Voice initiative for peace and reconciliation, with Palestinian intellectual, Dr. Sari Nusseibeh, who also spoke. Ayalon said: "Israelis understand that no matter how many times we conquer Palestinian areas, this will not bring security. Terrorism will end only when the Palestinians have hope and feel secure."

Canada must take a principled independent stand on the crisis that threatens an even further aggravation of instability in the Middle East and beyond. We must call for an unconditional withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the West Bank, and an end to the devastating home demolitions. Canada should not follow the U.S. practice of vaguely "deploring" Israel's actions while constantly providing it with weapons that are used in the current mass human rights violations, and arbitrarily trying to impose its selected leaders on the Palestinians. Canada should strongly support the UN Security Council resolution of May 19, as well as the dispatch of an international intervention force to stop the escalating violence in Gaza, as called for by Palestinian Authority premier, Ahmed Qureia.

The Israeli government cannot continue to flout international opinion on the false grounds that criticism of its severe violations of human rights in Gaza and the West Bank amounts to "anti-Semitism." Yes, there have been grave anti-Jewish incidents in Canada and abroad which have, justly, been widely condemned. But these must not serve as a cover for what Israel Knesset member, Yossi Sarid, speaking of the May 19 killings, labelled "war crimes" and about which even Ariel Sharon's coalition partner, Yosif Lapid, blaming the recent deaths on the army's presence in Gaza, said, "Written all over this tragedy is the fact that this situation cannot go on."

As the Israeli women's peace group, Bat Shalom, said in a statement, "True and enduring solutions to the present crisis can be attained only through negotiation, not destruction, revenge and humiliation."

David Abramowitz, co-president
Dr. Ben-Z. Shek, vice-president
National board, United Jewish People's Order of Canada

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