miliband and gaza

Dear David Miliband

I am writing to express my utter disgust at the British Government and the Foreign Office's reaction to what has happened in Gaza. You know as well as I do that throughout the second intifada, about 5 times as many Palestinians have been murdered by Israelis than the other way around. You know as well as I do that over the past 4 days, about 100 times as many Palestinians have been murdered by Israelis than the other way around. And you know as well as I that tens, if not hundreds of thousands of inhabitants of Gaza have been injured, traumatised, and lost their livelihoods and families as a result of this vicious bombing campaign.

Yet you cannot bring yourself to say that Israel's actions are disproportionate.

You know that conditions in Gaza even before the bombing began were brutal and inhumane, and that the siege on Gaza was condemned by human rights activists and lawyers worldwide as collective punishment, a violation of the Geneva Conventions. You know that it has been condemned by the UN's special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories - who was not permitted to enter Israel - and even by the President of the UN General Assembly. You know that health services in Gaza - such as they are - are now on the brink of collapse.

Yet you cannot bring yourself to say that Israel's continuing actions are not justifiable.

You even know the background to the conflict: that Israel is in violation of numerous Security Council and General Assembly resolutions in its continued occupation of the West Bank, that it violates international law in continuing to build settlements on Palestinian land, that it violates international law - and has been found guilty of doing so at the International Court of Justice - for the 'security wall' which steals still more land from the Palestinians and cuts them off from friends, family and even their own land and livelihood.

Yet you will not condemn their actions - not now, and not then. You will not call for sanctions, you will not even cease the sale of arms components with which they carry out acts of mass murder.

I have no hope that you will change your mind or attitude or policy. I hope only that your grandchildren will study the massacre of Gaza and those who could have acted to prevent it in the same way that children today study the holocaust in Nazi Germany. Shame on you, Foreign Secretary.

antarchi