Josh Ruebner / US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation – 2010-12-27 20:22:28
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/641/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5424
ACTION ALERT: Two Years after “Cast Lead,”
Obama Administration Must Hold Israel Accountable
(December 27, 2010) — Two years ago today Israel launched a horrific attack, codenamed “Operation Cast Lead,” against the 1.5 million besieged people of the Palestinian Gaza Strip.
In an all-out, 22-day assault that shocked the conscience of millions around the globe, Israel killed approximately 1,400 Palestinians, most of whom were civilians [1].
Although a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has largely held since then, Israel continues to collectively punish Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip through an illegal siege.
Its leaders have not been held to account for what the Goldstone Report [2] documented to be violations of human rights and international law, war crimes, and possible crimes against humanity.
Join the US Campaign’s call upon the Obama Administration to:
1. Demand that Israel end its illegal siege of the Gaza Strip, and
2. Stop blocking the international community from holding Israel accountable for its actions.
Three weeks ago, on Human Rights Day, the State Department told us that there is a “single universal standard that applies to every country, including our own. We apply it to Israelis,” and that it views “Palestinians as being human beings under the Universal Declaration [of Human Rights] and entitled to these rights.” Our camera recorded these remarks in the following video clip.
We need to hold the Obama Administration accountable because its policies don’t match its rhetoric. State Department spokesperson Robert Wood infamously refused to answer whether the United States considered pasta — an item denied to Palestinians under Israel’s illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip — a “dual-use item.”
The United States, as revealed in a State Department cable [3] posted by Wikileaks, has also been colluding with Israel to deflect further damage to Israel’s image from the Goldstone Report, rather than hold it to the “single universal standard that applies to every country.”
In hope for a new year when US policy upholds Palestinian rights as defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
The Petition
Dear President Obama,
On the two-year commemoration of Israel’s killing of approximately 1,400 Palestinians during “Operation Cast Lead,” I urge you to demand that Israel stop inflicting collective punishment on the 1.5 million residents of the Palestinian Gaza Strip through its illegal siege.
I also urge your Administration to stop blocking the international community from holding Israel accountable for its actions in “Operation Cast Lead,” during which–the Goldstone Report found–Israel committed violations of human rights and international law, war crimes, and possible crimes against humanity.
On Human Rights Day, 2010, the State Department said that there is a “single universal standard that applies to every country, including our own. We apply it to Israelis,” and that it views “Palestinians as being human beings under the Universal Declaration [of Human Rights] and entitled to these rights.”
I urge your Administration to live up to these words in its policies toward Israel’s actions upon Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Josh Ruebner is the National Advocacy Director of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
NOTES
(1) Fatalities during operation “Cast Lead”
http://www.btselem.org/english/statistics/casualties.asp
(2) The Goldstone Report
http://www.ohchr.org
(3) Wikileaks: US Tel Aviv Embassy Cable: ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MewNews/message/58662
