RAMALLAH, West Bank, 21 September 2007 — The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) yesterday called on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to convene an urgent session of the Security Council to discuss Israel’s decision to declare Gaza a hostile entity.
The rights group also lodged a protest with the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva, the body charged with implementing the Geneva Convention, which bars the use of collective punishment. The organization plans to send letters to other international aid groups, asking them to “prevent the starvation siege Israel plans to impose on Gaza.” ICHAD Director-General Jeff Halper said the appeal was aimed at stopping the implementation of a decision that was likely to cause a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
“Targeting innocent civilians is forbidden according to international law, whether they are citizens of (Israeli town of) Sderot and the victims of Qassam attacks, or whether they are Gaza residents — they must all remain outside the circle of violence,” Halper said.
“The disengagement severed Gaza from the Israeli economy, and left 2.5 million people unable to provide for themselves, with no air or sea ports or the possibility to trade in commodities. The decision will only worsen the severe humanitarian crisis faced by Gaza’s residents, aggravate the sense of despair and lead to an escalation in violence between the two sides,” Halper added.
According to Halper, the Israeli security Cabinet’s decision was in effect a declaration of war on the civilian population and an extremely immoral move.
Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that the US-sponsored international conference on the Middle East will be held in November.
Abbas, speaking at a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Ramallah added that he believed Arab countries that have not yet committed to attend the conference would do so if the ambiguity of the conference objectives was removed.
“The situation is ambiguous for the Arab countries, and the sponsors of the conference need to explain several ambiguities. When that is achieved, and I’m not... speaking on their behalf, I believe they will attend the conference,” he said.
Rice said that the upcoming conference must be substantive and that the Palestinian and Israeli sides must draft a document before the meeting that lays foundations for serious negotiations. “The conference has to be substantive and advance the cause of a Palestinian state... participants must not simply meet for the sake of meeting,” she said.
Rice is working to narrow differences between the two sides on an agreement before the November conference.
Israeli sources said that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will try to persuade Rice that the two sides should make “joint declarations” at the conference, including references to the most divisive issues, but not a full “agreement of principles.”
The Palestinian side is pushing to conclude an “agreement of principles” which includes the issues of final borders, the status of Jerusalem and the problem of Palestinian refugees.
