Stop the fighting in Gaza, let relief supplies in

ACTU and Unions NSW are calling for an immediate ceasefire, and for access to emergency and relief supplies.

Peace is union business, and unions have taken part in peace rallies in cities across Australia since the start of Israel's Operation "Molten Lead" on 27 December.

The grossly disproportionate attacks by the Israeli military on a trapped civilian population are unacceptable by all norms of humanity and international law and should not be tolerated by the international community. The targeting of civilians in all cases is prohibited under international law.

"The civilian population and individual civilians shall enjoy general protection against dangers arising from military operations...The civilian population as such, as well as individual civilians, shall not be the object of attacks." Protocol 1 Additional to the Geneva Conventions, Article 51.

Both Hamas and Israel should immediately end all military activities, in particular those which endanger civilians either in the Gaza Strip or in Israel.

On 'Black Saturday', 27 December 2008, the Israeli military offensive against the Gaza Strip resulted in the highest death toll in a single day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since 1948, when the State of Israel was created on the land of historic Palestine. According to the Union of Health Work Committees in Gaza, the offensive was a "massacre". The release reported that in the first day over 100 bombs were dropped in two waves of attacks, resulting in over 200 deaths and over 700 people injured.

Many more have been killed and injured in recent days, with escalating casualties since the Israeli military entered the Gaza Strip on the night of 3 January. Many of the dead, classed by Israel as "Hamas militants", are ordinary government staff, including police, emergency and health workers. The destruction of national and social infrastructures, of universities, schools, parliament, welfare, communications and religious centres must be deplored.

With medical supplies in Palestinian hospitals seriously depleted due to the Israeli-imposed blockade of the Gaza Strip for the past two years, efforts to treat the wounded are stymied. The humanitarian impact of the intensified and continuing Israeli closure and isolation of the Gaza Strip since June 2007 has brought the local Palestinian economy and community to virtual collapse.

In a Palestinian population of 1.5 million in the Gaza Strip, the United Nations reports that almost 80 percent of Palestinian families are almost entirely dependent on food aid or direct assistance. Unemployment in the Gaza Strip exceeded 50 percent by mid-2008 (UN OCHA, Dec. 2008). Of the 1.5 million, half are children, and almost a million are registered with the UN as refugees. Without access to food, medicines, fresh water or fuel, the people of Gaza are desperate. Poverty, unemployment and lack of income or cash flow have forced many Palestinian households into an unwanted dependence on food aid and other direct international humanitarian assistance, which in turn is available only when Israel permits.

A massive military offensive such as this current attack will only escalate the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. The world cannot stand passively by while such disproportionate military force is used against a besieged and starving civilian population.

The government of Israel must immediately cease all military attacks and open the borders for the flow of essentials: water, food, medicine and fuel. Egypt also should open the border at Rafah, so aid and essentials can get to civilians in Gaza, and so those needing to leave can do so. Palestinian fighters in Gaza must stop cross border rocket attacks. Israel should release all the political prisoners it holds in gaol including the elected members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, and all parties should resume negotiations in good faith.

The ACTU supports Israeli and Palestinian trade unions in their efforts for peace, for decent work, sustainable jobs and livelihoods, and for equal social and political rights of everyone living within Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

In accord with UN resolutions, Union Aid Abroad -APHEDA supports:

• an end to the occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza Strip and the Syrian Golan Heights

• an immediate cessation of the construction of settlements, illegal under the Geneva Conventions, in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and an end to the unequal appropriation of water resources from the West Bank and Gaza

• removal of the illegal Separation Wall and opening of borders within Palestine and between the OPT and Jordan and Egypt

• the release of the all the elected members of the Palestinian Legislative Council and all the political prisoners in Israel

• a just solution for all the refugees

• recognition by Israel of the right of Palestinians to self-determination and a fully sovereign and independent democratic secular Palestinian state to live in peace alongside the state of Israel

Australian trade unions are committed to efforts to educate working people and union members against prejudice against Middle Eastern, Arab, Jewish and Muslim Australians. Australian trade unions are also committed to practical solidarity. The ACTU's international aid agency, Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA, for the past two years has been sending funds to the MA'AN Development Centre in Gaza for emergency food support for the most vulnerable households. In addition to food parcels, families are given seeds, chickens and rabbits, and supplies so they can produce fresh protein and fresh vegetables at home. Funds have been sent to El Wafa Rehabilitation Hospital in Gaza City, which has rapidly increasing caseload of people with serious injuries and disabilities.

Click here to view Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA's GAZA APPEAL.

Click here to view Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA's Middle East programme and latest news.

© Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA 2003.

Last Modified: Thursday, 29-Jan-2009 12:36:00 EST
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