|
|
 |
| |
Time to show solidarity with the Palestinian people
• WE write to express our horror and outrage at the ongoing military offensive unleashed by Israel against Gaza and its 1.5 million people on December 27.
As we write, more than 500 Palestinians have died, among them at least 75 children, while Gaza’s woefully overstretched hospitals cannot cope with the flow of wounded.
Israeli spokepersons claim, time and again, that Hamas broke its six-month ceasefire in December to resume its rocket attacks on Israeli settlements in order to justify this murderous attack as an act of self-defence.
We have no wish to play a “numbers game” about the loss of life, but all too often the mass media fails to report some basic facts.
Since late December, four Israeli civilians have died. Until then fewer than 20 Israelis had been killed in Hamas rocket attacks in the whole of this decade.
Though regrettable, these figures stand in sharp contrast to the reality of Gaza.
Since Israeli troops and settlers withdrew in 2005, some 1,300 Palestinians have
perished in both direct and covert attacks.
Even during the
six-month “ceasefire” Israel killed 22 Gazans, including children.
There have been repeated incursions by Israeli special forces into Gaza, doubtless designed to provoke Hamas, alongside the devastating blockade of the Gaza strip, which from early November was actually
intensified.
Trade effectively ground to a halt leaving 80 per cent of Gazans to survive on the
equivalent of less than £1.50 a day.
In the words of the Israeli Jewish journalist and peace campaigner Uri Avnery:
“The blockade [of Gaza] on land, on sea and in the air is an act of war as much as dropping of bombs or launching of rockets. It paralyses life... pushing hundreds of thousands to the brink of starvation, stopping most hospitals from functioning and disrupting the supply of electricity and water.”
All too predictably, the outgoing administration of President Bush has given the USA’s explicit support to the Israeli offensive. While Israel has become a major arms manufacturer and exporter in its own right, it could not have carried out its aerial attacks without US-supplied F16 jets and Apache helicopters.
Unfortunately, the silence of president-elect Barack Obama speaks volumes and is disillusioning many who were hopeful at his election. Meanwhile, Britain and the European Union appear on the brink of conferring greater trade privileges on Israel.
In short, the
Palestinians of Gaza find themselves horribly isolated in the corridors of power at this time of horrific carnage, making it all the more imperative that those of us who oppose the current Israeli war on Gaza make our voices heard in opposition to our government’s policy and for an end of arms sales to Israel.
We wholeheartedly support the calls for an immediate halt to the bombing, the complete withdrawal of troops and a lifting of the economic blockade imposed on the people of Gaza.
Finally, we urge fellow trade unionists and Camden residents to rally in solidarity with the Palestinian people and join the demonstration on Saturday January 10, assembling from 12.30pm at Hyde Park, Speakers’ Corner, and marching to the Israeli Embassy in High Street Kensington.
PETER AINSLEY
Camden Unison publicity officer;
Mandy Berger,
Unison co-convenor
(Housing & Adult Social Care); George Binette,
Camden Unison convenor (Central Services);
Kevin Courtney, Secretary, Camden National Union of Teachers;
Robert Laurie,
Secretary, Camden Trades Council;
Liz Leicester, Camden Unison chair;
John Mann, Camden Unison co-convenor (Culture & Environment); Hugo Pierre, Camden Unison co-convenor (Children, Schools & Families);
Barry Walden,
Camden Unison vice-chair; Phoebe Watkins,
Camden Unison
co-convenor (Housing & Adult Social Care);
Liz Wheatley,
Convenor, Camden Stop the War Coalition;
David Eggmore, Camden Unison branch secretary; Phillip Lewis, Unison Co-Convenor (Culture & Environment);
Nicola Seyd
Assistant Secretary of Camden Trades Council;
Hugh Wallis
Treasurer of Camden Trades Council
|
 |
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
