news from the cpi(m)
To: Diplomatic missions
Ramallah/Haifa,
21 January 2007
Re: The EU must withdraw its support from the Second European Commission-Israel Seminar on the fight against racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism, Jerusalem, 22-23, January
Dear Ambassador or Representative,
Vice President Franco Frattini of the EU Commission is tomorrow opening the second European Commission – Israel seminar in Jerusalem with Minister Isaac Herzog. We understand that it is organized by the EU Commission in conjunction with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Yad Voshem under the framework of the EU Neighbourhood policy.
For the EU to be involved in such a meeting while Israel assaults Gaza with weapons of war and tactics of starvation is completely unacceptable. We are calling for the immediate suspension of the meeting.
You will also no doubt recall that in 2002 the European Parliament voted to suspend the EU Trade Association agreement, invoking its human rights clause, in protest at the massive assault on Palestinians during the Israeli operations in that year. What is currently happening in Gaza are human rights violations comparable to those carried out in 2002. Now, however, the collective punishment is even wider in its scope and even more blatant in its disregard for international law and human rights.
On Sunday evening, Gaza's only power plant was shut down, cutting electricity to the whole population in the freezing winter. Bakeries have stopped production. Water wells, hospitals and sewage treatment facilities are shutting down. UN food trucks, upon which 80% of Gaza's population depends, have been refused entry. 68% of the population will be unable to meet their basic needs. 35-40 types of medicines have run out, 50-60 will be gone within a month. The hospitals need 8000 of liters of fuel every day. Without the fuel and electricity, they will be unable to function. 600-700 people who urgently need hospital treatment outside Gaza are trapped in the area. 64 people have already died because of lack of medicines. Life in Gaza is now no longer possible. This is collective and holistic punishment; it is a war crime.
For Franco Frattini to meet with Isaac Herzog to discuss 'fighting racism', 'mutual understanding' and 'combating hate speech' under these circumstances is incomprehensible. Frattini said today:
"The European Union has repeatedly condemned and rejected all manifestations of racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism, regardless of where they come from."
The complete denial of human rights, even the humanity, of the people in Gaza by the Israeli occupation is race-hatred in its most vicious form. Where is condemnation of the EU now? Isaac Herzog is not only minister for tourism, but also member of the Israel security cabinet, which declared Gaza a 'hostile territory'. He is therefore directly implicated the current assault and must be called to account.
To meet under these circumstances flies in the face of the EU's stated commitment to human rights and its obligations to enforce the IV Geneva Convention. Further, Israel is in clear violation of the terms of the Association Agreement under whose very auspices the meeting has been arranged.
What is going on in Gaza now is just the tip of the iceberg: merely a part of Israel's policy towards the Palestinians over 60 years, from massacres and forcible expulsion in 1948 to population transfer and use of starvation as a weapon in 2008.
Franco Frattini must withdraw from the seminar and the meeting must be suspended. For the EU to support such a meeting at such a time makes their stated commitments to human rights no more than words on paper.
Yours sincerely,
Jamal Jumaa, General Director Ameer Makhoul, General Director
Palestinian Grassroots Anti Ittijah - Union of Arab Community Based
Apartheid Wall Campaign (Ramallah) Organisations (Haifa)
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