Failure to Halt Israel’s Genocide of Palestine
Risks the Fate of All of Humanity
Kathy Kelly / The Progressive
(August 7, 2024) — Following World War II, Albert Camus posed a “formidable gamble” to those who had survived a tragedy of immense proportions. “We’re in history up to our necks,” he observed, yet we must wager that “words are more powerful than munitions.”
“Leave or die” are the horrid words threatening largely unprotected Palestinian civilians in Gaza as dismayed populations around the world demand moral decency, or at least some indication of sanity, from their non-responsive governments.
The stakes couldn’t be higher. For decades, Israel has flouted international norms by refusing to acknowledge its nuclear weapons arsenal. Nor has it signed relevant treaties governing the biological weapons it possesses. For years, Israel has flagrantly violated the Geneva Conventions and basic principles of customary international law through its forcible acquisition of territories in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and through its transfer of Israeli settlers into the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Now, Israel’s genocidal attacks against Palestinians living in Gaza have cost the lives of at least 39,677 people. Tens of thousands more are believed to be buried beneath the rubble, with at least 90,000 wounded and the overwhelming majority of its displaced 1.9 million population facing starvation.
Israel’s failure to comply with international treaties and humanitarian law signal an acute need for other countries to organize weapons embargoes, cease trade deals, and provide support for civilian peacekeepers to bring about a permanent ceasefire.
The United States continues to arm and protect Israel’s genocidal campaign against Palestinians.
US Bombs Destroy Mosques, Schools, Hospitals
We must try to absorb what it means to live as a refugee in an open-air concentration camp — already one of the most densely populated areas on Earth, even before 70 percent of its housing was destroyed. More than 341 mosques and three churches have been destroyed. 2,000-pound bombs have been dropped on tents in places deemed safe areas.
Innocent civilians are being killed by snipers. Thirty-one out of thirty-six hospitals have been damaged or destroyed. Escape routes are cut off. Persistent restrictions on the flow of humanitarian aid into and around Gaza are driving a desperate shortage of food, fuel, and medicine. As access to humanitarian relief is deliberately choked off, children are being collectively punished while Israeli leaders denounce them as animals. The world watches in horror as surgeons are forced to amputate the limbs of wounded children with no available anesthetics.
A new polio epidemic emerges while Israel vaccinates its soldiers but leaves the Palestinian civilian population vulnerable. Newly released prisoners have said they were subjected to torture, including being water-boarded and raped.
Rather than bring suspects before international courts, Israel has resorted to assassinations of the very negotiators with which it purports to be seeking peace, and in a manner clearly intended to expand the conflict into a global war involving nuclear-armed nations.
Expanding Regional Wars Could Go Nuclear
In its July 19, 2024, authoritative Advisory Opinion on Israel’s Settlement Policy and Practices, the World Court clearly declared the Israeli settlement project in the Occupied Territories to be illegal. The Court outlined the obligation of all parties to the Geneva Convention and the Genocide Convention to discontinue any economic or trade dealings with Israel, which might help perpetuate Israel’s occupation and unlawful presence in the territory.
Countries that signed or ratified these agreements are obligated to immediately stop arms exports to Israel and to use political, military, and economic influence to stop Israel’s flagrant, escalating violations of international humanitarian law.
The World Court has provided strong, clear words denouncing Israel’s genocide against Palestinians. As during the Vietnam War, ordinary citizens can no longer abide with the lawless barbarism of continuing assaults against Palestinians.
“Rolling the bones” is a slang expression for gambling. With a regional war perhaps now unavoidable in the Middle East, the genocidal derangement of the United States and Europe over Israel’s actions may well lead to a nuclear war that ends the human species. Failing to use our words at this most crucial juncture for humanity would be, as Camus said, a formidable gamble indeed.
The UN Security Council Has Failed:
Tell the General Assembly to Use the
“Uniting for Peace” Option to End Gaza Genocide
ACTION ALERT:
UN Delegations Are Listening to Us on Gaza
World BEYOND War
(August 14, 2024) — World BEYOND War President Kathy Kelly has been fasting, demonstrating, and meeting at the United Nations with the delegations of various nations. Activists have held two vigils each day and met with the Missions of South Korea, Brazil, Venezuela, Greece, Ireland, Spain, Malta, the Holy See, Iran, Denmark, Russia, Mexico, and Slovenia.
You can add your own words, but it reads:
“I urge your country to move to convene an emergency session of the UN General Assembly and use Uniting For Peace (Resolution 377) to impose an arms embargo and targeted sanctions on the Israeli government, suspend the Israeli government from the United Nations, and send unarmed peacekeepers to Palestine.”
Thus far, nations have not committed to doing this, but have expressed interest, have taken the meetings, have listened attentively, and have suggested that they will be supportive of positive action.
We seem to be in need of one courageous leader, as South Africa led on taking the case to the International Court of Justice.
There’s some expectation that it should be the Palestinian delegation to lead. But what if it doesn’t? Does every UN member not have an obligation to uphold the rule of law in the face of the Rules Based Order?
