European Jews for Just Peace (EJJP) Call the EU to Intervene and End the Assault on Gaza
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European Jews for Just Peace (EJJP) Call the EU to Intervene and End the Assault on Gaza

8 July 2014

To High Representative Ashton, Pierre Vimont, Christian Berger, Permanent Representatives and Political Advisors. c.c. Leonello Gabrici, Helga Schmid

Dear High Representative Ashton et al,

We are writing about the fighting between Israel and Hamas, which has now escalated into long range rockets being fired by Hamas and major Israeli air attacks on Gaza, aiming at military and civilian objects alike. Fjallraven Kanken No.2 We are also very concerned about the cycle of vicious attacks on individuals which could escalate into large-scale inter-communal violence between Israelis and Palestinians.

We were gratified by the European Union and Security Council's equal condemnation of the recent appalling kidnappings and murders of three Israeli boys and the particularly horrific revenge murder of a Palestinian boy, which have now been followed by the killing of two more Palestinians and injuring of a third when hit by a truck in what appears to be a deliberate hit and run by a settler. There have been violent clashes in East Jerusalem and Northern Israel. Reggie Jackson Baseball Jersey We ask you, however, to consider the sequence of events and the question of responsibility.

This cycle of attacks did not start with the kidnappings of the three Israeli boys, but rather with the fatal shooting of two Palestinian teenagers by Israeli soldiers in mid May after a demonstration on Nakba Day outside Ofer Prison in the West Bank. Nike Air Max Command Homme CCTV footage shows conclusively that the boys were not carrying weapons, were nowhere near the IDF lines outside the prison and were not even walking toward the prison. That was of course only the last in a long history of lethal IDF violence towards unarmed demonstrators, as reported by Amnesty International in “Trigger Happy: Israel's use of excessive force in the West Bank.” No murders can be justified, but it should be acknowledged that all Palestinians cannot be expected to behave like Gandhi or Martin Luther King all the time in the face of such continual provocation.

The IDF operation in the West Bank after the kidnappings was a cynical lie. adidas superstar 80s grise J.J. Nike Air Max 2016 Uomo Goldberg wrote in the Jewish Daily Forward on 10 July, “The government had known almost from the beginning that the boys were dead. It maintained the fiction that it hoped to find them alive as a pretext to dismantle Hamas’ West Bank operations.” On 3 July, Human Rights Watch reported: “Israel's military operations ... nike air max 97 homme have amounted to collective punishment. The(y) ... included unlawful use of force, arbitrary arrests, and illegal home demolitions. Cheap Nike Shoes Sale UK ... Parajumpers Femme Californian Joanna Israeli forces have shot and killed at least five Palestinians and arrested and detained at least 150 more without charge.”

The resumption of Hamas rocket fire from Gaza has to be seen in this context. The Israeli air attacks, while obviously intended stop rocket fire, are equally obviously intended to weaken or destroy Hamas and mete out collective punishment. Adidas Zx 750 Femme It is clear that Israeli policy is responsible for the fighting and the horrific numbers of Palestinian casualties, now standing at 100+ killed and 600+ wounded, as it was for Operation Cast Lead and Operation Pillar of Defence. They are part and parcel of Israel's violent repression of Palestinian resistance to the long illegal occupation and settlement of Palestinian land.

We urge the EU to use all its influence to persuade the parties to quickly de-escalate the growing attacks and then to reach a ceasefire, and equally to control their own extremists in order to prevent further inter-communal violence. In the long run, the only way to prevent future bouts of violence will be to end the occupation.