Amnesty on the ceasefire

07Nov08

An Amnesty International press release, published yesterday:

“A spate of Israeli and Palestinian attacks and counter-attacks in the past 24 hours could spell the end of a five-and-a-half-month ceasefire. This would once again put the civilian populations of Gaza and southern Israel in the line of fire.

[...]

The ceasefire was agreed between Israel and Hamas last June and has been in force since then. It has been the single most important factor in reducing civilian casualties and attacks on civilians to the lowest level since the outbreak of the uprising (intifada) more than eight years ago.

The ceasefire has brought enormous improvements in the quality of life in Sderot and other Israeli villages near Gaza, where before the ceasefire residents lived in fear of the next Palestinian rocket strike. However, nearby in the Gaza Strip the Israeli blockade remains in place and the population has so far seen few dividends from the ceasefire. Since June 2007, the entire population of 1.5 million Palestinians has been trapped in Gaza, with dwindling resources and an economy in ruins. Some 80 percent of the population now depend on the trickle of international aid that the Israeli army allows in.

[...]

“If the current ceasefire breaks down and daily attacks resume, the civilian populations in both Israel and Gaza will pay the highest price,” said Donatella Rovera of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme. “Both sides need to step back from the brink and avoid, at all costs, a return to the vicious spiral of violence which has cost so much in human lives.” [my emph.]

If the ceasefire is holds – as I very much hope it does – the media will likely report that an “uneasy peace” has resumed, or that “calm” has returned to the “troubled region”. For Israelis this would be an accurate description. For Gazans, as Amnesty reports, “calm” means being trapped in a cage under siege of such viciousness that a large majority of the population has been reduced to dependence on international food aid for mere survival.

Filed under: Israeli / Palestinian   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: Amnesty International, blockade, ceasefire, collective punishment, Gaza, Human Rights, siege, truce