By Chandra Muzaffar
Even by Israel’s brutal, barbaric standards, the cruel, callous carnage carried out by its military in Gaza has come as a shock to the world.
The carnage which occurred on Tuesday, 18 March, killed 436 people, the majority of them children and women.
What has worsened the tragedy is the fact that the carnage happened as its victims were preparing for, or partaking of, their dawn meal just before beginning their daily fast during Ramadan, one of Islam’s most revered practices.
It is important to note that a big portion of the Gazan population is being subjected to starvation by the Israeli government as a way of forcing them out of the strip.
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For Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this would be integral to his state’s agenda to ethnically cleanse Palestine of Palestinians.
But Palestinian resistance is staunch.
Part of that resistance, which has happened at almost the same time as the 18 March massacre, is the launch of Global 195, a worldwide legal coalition dedicated to “holding accountable Israel and dual national individuals alleged to have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza”. The coalition is spearheaded by the International Center of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP).
Viewed in the context of other recent moves by the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court to challenge Israeli impunity, it is obvious that Israel’s wanton transgression of international law and its contempt for shared civilisational norms of conduct are coming to an end.
Given these changes in the global environment, civil society groups from both the Global South and the Global North should come together and demand that Israel be held accountable for its aggressive and arrogant behaviour in Gaza, which led to the total breakdown of the ceasefire.
The UN General Assembly should coerce Israel to do the following:
- Compensate for the killing of the over 400 people in Gaza on 18 March
- As part of the compensation, Israel and should finance the construction of three fully equipped hospitals in Gaza which will be managed by the Palestinians themselves
- Israel should cease all military operations in Gaza and faithfully implement the second and subsequent phases of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas forged on 19 January
- Israel should facilitate the unhindered and immediate flow of essential items into Gaza, including water, fuel and medicines
- Israel and its allies should not hamper in any way the reconstruction and redevelopment of Gaza. This should be spearheaded by Palestine itself aided by other countries which are sincerely committed to the principle of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state that will be inhabited by Muslims, Christians and Jews – as Palestine was for centuries before the Balfour Declaration and the rise of Zionism
Dr Chandra Muzaffar is the president of the International Movement for a Just World (Just).
AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
- Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
- Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
- Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
- Lawan rasuah dan kronisme
