Tom Hurndall |
After Tom’s death, I want justice for all
• Contrary to recent misquotes I cannot help being deeply interested in the Palestinian question from the point of view of a universal and inclusive justice for all. It is a concept that has been central to our campaign in getting justice for Tom. It comes from a fundamental belief in the equal value of life whatever the race, religion or culture – the measure of our civilisation.
After Tom was shot it was our determination to remain objective at all times in order to find out the facts. In our search for the truth we came to recognise that there are ongoing tragic injustices in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank about which it is impossible not to comment.
A belief in equal access to justice transcends taking sides. It involves the investigation of all loss of civilian life be they Palestinian, Israeli or internationals. Tragically, very few of the 3,000 Palestinian civilian deaths during the last Intifada, including hundreds of children, have been investigated. We hope the eventual investigation into Tom’s unlawful killing has paved the way for a more equal access to honest and serious investigations for all loss of civilian life. Anything less than a belief in an inclusive justice for all through an adherence to international law is vulnerable to an imbalance that invariably leads to policies of self-interest, racism and apartheid.
Jocelyn Hurndall
Address Supplied
• Geoffrey Gilbert seems to repeat the worn-out tactic of Israel’s apologists in trying to discredit the International Solidarity Movement, questioning why it is ‘only’ in solidarity with Palestine.
Maybe he does not realise that it is international in the sense that its volunteers are international and it has support groups from all over the world. Why Palestine? Because it is led by Palestinians! But I expect that Gilbert would not mind if the ISM only supported, for example, the Sudan.
No one must only support the Palestinians as that is ‘anti-Israel’. And of course, one must not support the ISM as it tries to protect unarmed Palestinians and their homes and bears witness to brutal actions committed against them by the Israeli military.
Deborah Fink
N4 (Address supplied)
• Geoffrey Gilbert (Just who are they in solidarity with?, May 25) challenges my letter (Support us in rally for peace, May 18) claiming that the Palestinian nominee for the 2006 Nobel Prize for peace – Professor Ghassan Andoni – was not a co-founder of the ISM and insisting that the ISM members collaborate with “terrorist groups”.
May I advise Mr Gilbert to search the website of the Quaker organisation American Friends Service Committee, which nominated Professor Ghassan Andoni for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, where he could find the following passage: “Ghassan Andoni is a physics professor at Birzeit University who has combined teaching with peace activism since the 1980s. His brave and courageous work has made him one of the leading figures of the Palestinian peace movement. He co-founded in 1988 The Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between Peoples, which sponsored dialogue and joint activities between Israelis and Palestinians. As the Israeli occupation wore on, Ghassan and Rapprochement moved from dialogue to direct non-violent action intended to end the occupation. In this connection he co-founded the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), in which international volunteers and Palestinians initiated grassroots non-violent actions of resistance to the oppression created by years of occupation. In working with ISM, Ghassan has insisted that all international participants commit themselves to non-violence, both physical and verbal.”
Like Dr Jeff Halper – a co-nominee with Professor Andoni for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize – Israeli and Jewish peace organisations across the world call for Israel to negotiate directly with the democratically elected government of the Palestinians of which Hamas is a majority party. Hamas has been holding a long-term truce and declared its intention to negotiate directly with the Israeli government despite the fact that Israel is continuing its summary execution and “targeted assassinations” of Palestinian insurgents in which innocent bystanders and small children are being killed.
The decision of the EU to cut direct aid to to the Palestinian Authority and Israel’s refusal to release tax and customs revenue due to the Palestinians is causing an imminent starvation and untold hardship inflicted primarily on the young, sick and the elderly.
In her inspiring speech at a peace rally in Trafalgar Square on May 20 Irene Bruegel, the Secretary of Jews for Justice for Palestinians (of which I am a member) told the gathering: “Jews from a number of organisations are here today because they are especially appalled at the attempt by the US, Israel, and the EU, to crush the Palestinians into submission by denying them funds. There can be no genuine agreement nor lasting peace if the will of the Palestinian people is ignored and their elected government frozen out. This boycott will engender resistance, not compliance”.
The clear and only answer, which I hope Mr Gilbert and the mainstream Jewish community will come to understand, is a genuine negotiation between the two sides which will lead to Israel’s withdrawal to the 1967 borders and to the creation of a viable and independent Palestinian state under secured borders for both nations.
Ruth Tenne
Goldhurst Terrace, NW6
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