Solidarity with Gaza Now: Sanctions against Israeli War Crimes!

Written by Michael Warschawski,


The Israeli government
has declared a total war on Gaza,
largely cutting electricity and fuel supplies and
prohibiting basic products to enter, including
food and medicines.

Gaza is not a territory, but 1.4 million human beings, women,
men and children. “Attacking Gaza” or “putting Gaza under siege”
means targeting 1.4 million civilians. According to international law,
this is a war crime; according to common sense, it is a crime against
humanity. Such a crime cannot be justified by any excuse, and no
reason whatsoever can allow a state, a government, or a person
to commit it.

The martyrdom of Gaza is based on a lie and a stupid assumption.
The lie is the Israeli argument that justifies the siege against Gaza
in order to quell the daily firing of Qassam rockets onto the town
of Sderot. Yet the Qassams are a reaction to forty years of Israeli
occupation, colonization and bloody repression, an occupation
rendered even more cruel after the “disengagement,” initiated
two years ago by Ariel Sharon. The assumption that this siege
will help end the Hamas government is as absurd as that used
by Israel to justify Operation Defensive Shield in 2002: in both
cases, these assumptions strengthened the radicals at the
expense of the so-called moderates, and not the other way round.

The sole reason that 1.4 million human beings are under
siege in the Gaza Strip is collective punishment for their refusal
to surrender to the diktats of Washington and Tel Aviv. The women
and men of Gaza are not only one of the proudest populations on earth,
but also one that has known a unique combination of bloody repression
and poverty. As painful as it may be, this combination is the secret of
the Gazans’ stubbornness and steadfastness. Olmert and his advisers
are gradually understanding that they will not provoke a capitulation
from the Gaza population, and the only tool that remains is to punish
the Palestinians for this.

The Gazans are providing a rare example of resistance and heroism,
and no one has the right to expect them to do more. The additional
efforts that could ultimately bring about the end of their martyrdom
have to come from the solidarity movement all over the world,
including Israel. The coalition of Israeli anti-occupation movements
is organizing, next Saturday, a convoy of support and solidarity.
We hope that several hundred cars will participate from all the
parts of Israel. We know well that our modest convoy will not
change the material conditions of the Gaza population. Our
goal is to send a strong message to the Israeli public: the siege
on Gaza in a war crime and whoever is not protesting as strongly
as possible is guilty of non-assistance to a people in danger.
It is also a call for international the public opinion: demand from
your respective governments that they stop their collaboration
with the Israeli war crimes and the boycott of Gaza.

Ehud Olmert and his ministers, General Gabi Ashkenazi
and the members of the Israeli military High Command must
all be charged by the International Court of Justice for their
war crimes against the population of Gaza. The State of Israel
must be sanctioned, not the victims of the Israeli colonial occupation!