Open letter calls on MP to condemn Israel’s actions in Gaza

The horrifying situation in Gaza, where the withholding of food aid from Palestinians by the Israeli government is leading to widespread starvation, continues to send shock waves through the local community. In an open letter, Felicity Laurence of Amnesty Bexhill &  Hastings Constituencies calls on local MP Helena Dollimore to condemn Israel’s actions and the goverment’s “complicity”.

The Israeli government’s campaign of withholding food aid in Gaza, accompanied by the shooting of unarmed civilians desperately trying to secure supplies at the officially sanctioned distribution points, is causing worldwide revulsion, in Hastings as elsewhere.

For many watching as this catastrophe continues to unfold, the response of the government has been pitifully inadequate, as Felicity Laurence, a member of Amnesty Bexhill & Hastings Constituencies, points out in an open letter to Hastings & Rye MP Helena Dollimore, on whom she calls to condemn Israel’s actions.

Revulsion

“As the numbers of people in Gaza starving to death rocket upwards, revulsion at Israel’s actions is reaching a huge crescendo, globally, nationally and here in Hastings. In Israel itself, a thousand people marched in Tel Aviv a few days ago demanding that their fellow citizens actually look at the images of the children who have already been bombed to smithereens or who are now starving to death, and calling upon them to refuse to take part in this blatant annihilation of a people.

“Here in Hastings, different groups are demonstrating constantly in a variety of ways, some people risking arrest as our Government takes an unprecedently draconian approach to protest (an approach supported by you as our MP); collectively, we are reaching out more and more urgently to an increasingly concerned public here in our town.”

Laurence notes the close links between Hastings and the coastal community of Al Masawi in Gaza, which were emphasised when the council passed a motion calling for a ceasefire and a halt to arms sales to Israel this month.

“As you will know, Hastings is now officially connected with the people of Al Mawasi in Gaza. Here is what they have been telling us in recent days.”

Message from Al Mawasi

“’There are new evacuation orders coming constantly, so that more and more people are being crammed into Al Mawasi, once a beautiful, tranquil fishing village, the food basket of Gaza with guava, dates, olives – which is now bursting with a million people and more being forced to flee there every day.

“’It’s not safe to try to collect the food aid, and it’s not even safe at the cooking space; sometimes we have to go miles away to find a safe space for cooking.

“’The stored food has run out, no new food is coming into Gaza, and what is available is grotesquely expensive.

“’We’re doing the impossible now, to help ourselves and help others living here to endure all of this. We try to think of community things to do to help people. We are providing people in the tents with water barrels; we are trying to find if there’s any bread available to buy and bake, and to buy flour to bake and make some money to help more people.'”

Situation in Gaza “appalling”

In a recent exchange with the local Green Party, Dollimore called the situation in Gaza “appalling,” and the “level of human suffering in Gaza […] totally unacceptable,” and said that the Israeli Government “must cease its military actions immediately.” But she has refused to support a motion by Labour MPs calling for a suspension of arms sales. Laurence asks her to go further.

“We would like to ask you, Helena, as the MP for our town which has now officially recognised its friendship with Al Mawasi, for your message to our friends there. Will you publicly condemn Israel’s destruction of their lives and the complicity of our own government? – complicity of which the accusations are ramping up by the day, including Amnesty International’s most recent warning here.”

She refers Dollimore to a letter recently sent by the local Amnesty branch to the prime minister. “You will read therein about the deliberate shooting of young Palestinians in their chest, head and genitals as they wait desperately for food. I can assure you that it is a fact – admitted by soldiers themselves, that they have orders for these reprehensible actions.  We ask you, as our representative in Parliament, to respond to the charges therein.”

The letter to the prime minister, signed by the group coordinator Pal Luthra, highlights the ethnic cleansing underlying the aims of Israeli politicians’, the ruling of the International Court of Justice concerning the occupied territories, Israel’s “brazen defiance of international law,” and the UK’s own obligations under international law.

“Deliberate starvation”

It draws attention to “Israel’s deliberate starvation of civilians,” and the multiple killings near aid distribution centres, pointing out that according to the UN, as of 22 July, at least 1,054 people had been killed while seeking food, and thousands more injured.

It also draws attention to an assessment by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) that “as of 15 June, a total of 18,741 children had been hospitalised for acute malnutrition since the beginning of the year.  Amnesty International is clear that the catastrophic food insecurity in Gaza arises from Israel’s deliberate starvation of civilians…

“It is clear that the purpose of Israel’s war is not the eradication of Hamas, but the collective punishment of the Palestinian people, their elimination from Gaza and the occupied territories, and the creation of a greater Israel.”

Luthra cites consultant gastrointestinal surgeon Prof Nick Maynard’s statement to The Guardian that, “I cannot believe we have come to a point where the world is watching as the people of Gaza are forced to endure starvation and gunfire, all while food and medical aid sits across the border just miles away from them… History will judge not just those who committed these crimes, but those who stood by and watched.”.

“Sanctions…completely disproportionate”

The letter criticises the government’s actions as inadequate. “The sanctions imposed by the UK government are completely disproportionate to the war crimes being committed in Gaza and the Occupied Territories.”

“The ongoing genocidal Israeli war on Gaza must be stopped,” the letter says. “You and your government can take a firm stance by supporting Palestinian human rights, including imposing broad sanctions on Israel for war crimes.”

It urges the government to call on Israel “to bring to an immediate end the genocidal war on Gaza and an unconditional ceasefire,” respect humanitarian law and lift the aid blockade.

It also calls on the government to ban the import of goods from Israeli settlements, halt all supply of weapons and technical assistance and to “honour the UK’s legal obligation” as a party to the International Criminal Court and signatory to the Rome Statute.

A full version of the letter can be read here.

 

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