The European Union, Israel's largest trade partner in the
world, is watching by as Israel tightens its barbaric siege on
Gaza, collectively punishing 1.5 million Palestinian civilians,
condemning them to devastation, and visiting imminent death
upon hundreds of kidney dialysis and heart patients,
prematurely born babies, and all others dependent on
electric power for their very survival.
By freezing fuel and electric power supplies to Gaza, Israel,
the occupying power, is essentially guaranteeing that "clean"
water -- only by name, as Gaza's water is perhaps the most
polluted in the whole region, after decades of Israeli theft and
abuse -- will not be pumped out and properly distributed to
homes and institutions; hospitals will not be able to function
adequately, leading to the eventual death of many, particularly
the most vulnerable; whatever factories that are still working
despite the siege will now be forced to close, pushing the
already extremely high unemployment rate even higher;
sewage treatment will come to a halt, further polluting
Gaza's precious little water supply; academic institutions
and schools will not be able to provide their usual services;
and the lives of all civilians will be severely disrupted, if
not irreversibly damaged. And Europe is apathetically
watching.
Princeton academic Richard Falk considered Israel's siege a
"prelude to genocide," even before this latest crime of altogether
cutting off energy supplies. Now, Israel's crimes in Gaza can
accurately be categorized as acts of genocide, albeit slow.
According to Article II of the 1948 UN Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the
term is defined as:
"[A]ny of the following acts committed with intent toClearly, Israel's hermetic siege of Gaza, designed to kill,
destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial
or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members
of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of
life calculated to bring about its physical destruction
in whole or in part; ..."
cause serious bodily and mental harm, and deliberately
inflict conditions of life calculated to bring about partial
and gradual physical destruction, qualifies as an act of
genocide, if not all-out genocide yet. And the EU is
suspiciously silent.
But why accuse Europe, in particular, of collusion in this
crime when almost the entire international community is not
lifting a finger, and the UN's obsequious Secretary-General,
who surpassed all his predecessors in obedience to the US
government, is pathetically paying only lip service? In addition,
what of the US government itself, Israel's most generous
sponsor that is directly implicated in the current siege,
especially after President George W. Bush, on his recent
visit, gave a hardly subtle green light to Israeli Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert to ravage Gaza? Why not blame the Palestinians'
quiet Arab brethren, particularly Egypt -- the only country that
can immediately break the siege by reopening the Rafah
crossing and supplying through it the necessary fuel, electric
power and emergency supplies? And finally, why not blame
the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, whose subservient
and visionless leader openly boasted in a press conference
its "complete agreement" with Bush on all matters of substance?
After Israel, the US is, without a doubt, the guiltiest party in
the current crime. Under the influence of a fundamentalist,
militaristic, neo-conservative ideology that has taken over
its helms of power and an omnipotent Zionist lobby that is
unparalleled in its sway, the US is in a category by itself. It
goes without saying that the PA, the UN, as well as Arab
and international governments maintaining business as usual
with Israel should all be held accountable for acquiescing,
whether directly or indirectly, to Israel's crimes against
humanity in Gaza. It is also true that each one of the above
bears the legal and moral responsibility to intervene and
apply whatever necessary pressure to stop the crime
before thousands perish. But the EU commands a unique
position in all this. It is not only silent and apathetic; in most
European countries Israel and Israeli institutions are currently
welcomed and sought after with unprecedented warmth,
generosity and deference in all fields -- economic, cultural
, academic, athletic, etc. For instance, Israel was invited
as the guest of honor to a major book fair in Turin, Italy.
Israeli government-funded films are featuring in film
festivals all over the continent. Israeli products, from
avocados and oranges to hi-tech security systems, are
flooding European markets like never before. Israeli
academic institutions are enjoying a special, very lucrative,
association agreement with the relevant organs in the EU.
Israeli dance groups, singing bands and orchestras are
invited to European tours and festivals as if Israel were
not only a normal, but in effect a most favored, member
of the so-called "civilized" world. Official Europe's once
lackluster embrace of Israel has turned into an intense,
open and enigmatic love affair.
If Europe thinks it can thus repent for its Holocaust
against its own Jewish population, it is in fact shamefully
and consciously facilitating the committal of fresh acts of
genocide against the people of Palestine. But Palestinians,
it appears, do not count for much, as we are viewed not
only by Israel, but also by its good old "white" sponsors and
allies as lesser, or relative, humans. The continent that
invented modern genocide and was responsible for massacring
in the last two centuries more human beings, mostly "relative
humans," than all other continents put together is covering up
crimes that are reminiscent in quality, though certainly not in
quantity, of its own heinous crimes against humanity.
In no other international affair, perhaps, can the European
establishment be accused of being as detached from and
indifferent to its own public opinion. While calls for
boycotting Israel as an apartheid state are slowly but
consistently spreading among European civil society
organizations and trade unions, drawing disturbing
parallels to the boycott of South African apartheid,
European governments are finding it difficult to distinguish
themselves from the overtly complicit US position vis-a-vis
Israel. Even European clichés of condemnation and "
expressing deep concern" have become rarer than ever
nowadays. Moreover, Israel's relentless and defiant
violation of Europe's own human rights laws and
conditions are ignored whenever anyone questions
whether Israel should continue to benefit from its
magnanimous association agreement with the EU
despite its military occupation, colonization and
horrific record of human rights abuse against its
Palestinian victims. If this is not complicity, what is?
Morality aside, sinking Gaza into a sea of darkness,
poverty, death and despair cannot bode well for Europe.
By actively propping up an environment conducive to the
rise of fanaticism and desperate violence near its borders,
Europe is foolishly inviting havoc to its doorstep. Instead
of heeding -- or at least seriously considering -- calls for
boycott, divestment and sanctions against apartheid Israel,
adopted by virtually the entire spectrum of Palestinian civil
society, it may soon have to reckon with uncontainable
forces of irrational and indiscriminate violence and its
resulting chaos.
It seems European elites are currently determined never to
oppose Israel, no matter what crimes it commits. It is as
if the bellowing -- and increasingly hypocritical -- slogan
upheld by Jewish survivors of European genocide, "Never
Again!", is now espoused by European elites with one
difference: the two letter, 's' and 't', are added at the end.
Omar Barghouti is an independent Palestinian
political analyst and founding member of the
Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and
Cultural Boycott of Israel (www.PACBI.org)
0 Have Your Say!:
Post a Comment