Letter on Gaza
To: The Representatives of the Middle East Quartet (UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, EU High Representative Catherine Ashton, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton) and European Union foreign ministers
Re. Palmer report and the continued closure of Gaza
Dear Foreign Minister,
As international humanitarian, development, human rights and peace-building organisations, we are writing to you in response to the report of the Panel of Inquiry led by Sir Geoffrey Palmer and established by the UN Secretary-General. Given the common misconceptions about the Palmer report’s findings, we ask you to ensure that its claim that the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip is lawful is not misunderstood to mean that the entire closure regime imposed on Gaza is legal. We also ask you to step up efforts to ensure an immediate and unconditional lifting of the closure.
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, the guardian of international humanitarian law, the closure of Gaza “constitutes a collective punishment imposed in clear violation of Israel's obligations under international humanitarian law”. In contrast, the Palmer report only focuses on the naval blockade of Gaza and explicitly does not address the legality of the overall closure regime which includes sweeping restrictions on the movement of goods and persons via land crossings.
Many of the undersigned organisations have humanitarian and development programmes in Gaza and continue to witness the unnecessary daily suffering of the civilian population, over half of whom are children, due to the closure policy. The steps taken by Israel to ease some restrictions have not resulted in meaningful improvements in the lives of Gaza’s 1.6 million residents.
Since January 2011, exports from Gaza have amounted to around one per cent of pre-2007 levels, despite Israel’s promises to increase them. Imports of construction materials have remained below 20 per cent of pre-2007 levels, impeding the reconstruction of schools, hospitals, homes and businesses that were damaged and destroyed in Israel’s 2008-2009 military operation Cast Lead. The number of Palestinians allowed to leave Gaza through the Israeli crossings remains below one per cent of pre-2000 levels and even patients in need of urgent treatment outside Gaza are often still denied exit. According to the World Food Programme, three quarters of Gaza’s population continue to rely on humanitarian aid, while 54 per cent are food insecure.
The Palmer report does note that the humanitarian and human rights situation in Gaza is “unsustainable, unacceptable and not in the interests of any of those concerned”, but merely calls on Israel to “continue with its efforts to ease its restrictions on movement of goods and persons to and from Gaza”.
Instead of only easing the restrictions, Israel should be required to comply with its international legal obligations and lift its closure on Gaza fully and immediately. This means allowing exports as well as imports, subject only to legitimate and proportionate security checks, and allowing Palestinians to travel between Gaza and the West Bank, which are internationally recognised as a single territorial unit. It also means ensuring Palestinians’ access to arable land currently located inside the “buffer zone” imposed by Israel within Gaza’s perimeter and allowing Palestinian fishermen access to their coastal waters.
Sincerely,
Jean-Etienne DE LINARES
General Delegate
ACAT France
Frans Mikael JANSEN
Secretary General
ActionAid Denmark
Salil SHETTY
Secretary General
Amnesty International
Lieve HERIJGERS
Director
Broederlijk Delen (Belgium)
Chris BAIN
Director
CAFOD (UK)
Bernard PINAUD
General Delegate
CCFD-Terre Solidaire (France)
Bernd NILLES
Secretary General
CIDSE
Bo FORSBERG
Secretary General
Diakonia (Sweden)
Kamel JENDOUBI
President
Euro-Mediterranean Human
Rights Network
Donatella VERGARI
General Secretary
Terre des hommes Italy
Steven JAMES
Chief Executive
Medical Aid for Palestinians
Thomas GEBAUER
Executive Director
medico international (Germany)
Dr. Maja HESS
President
medico international schweiz
(Switzerland)
Jo HANSSENS
President
Pax Christi Flanders
Thierry MAURICET
General Director
Première Urgence - Aide Médicale
Internationale
Liz SCURFIELD
Head of Office
Quaker Council for European
Affairs
Jasmine WHITBREAD
CEO
Save the Children International
Justin KILCULLEN
Director
Trócaire (Ireland)
Freek LANDMETER
Co-director, IKV Pax Christi
United Civilians for Peace
(Netherlands)
(A coalition comprising Oxfam
Novib, Cordaid, ICCO and IKV Pax
Christi)
Re. Palmer report and the continued closure of Gaza
Dear Foreign Minister,
As international humanitarian, development, human rights and peace-building organisations, we are writing to you in response to the report of the Panel of Inquiry led by Sir Geoffrey Palmer and established by the UN Secretary-General. Given the common misconceptions about the Palmer report’s findings, we ask you to ensure that its claim that the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip is lawful is not misunderstood to mean that the entire closure regime imposed on Gaza is legal. We also ask you to step up efforts to ensure an immediate and unconditional lifting of the closure.
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, the guardian of international humanitarian law, the closure of Gaza “constitutes a collective punishment imposed in clear violation of Israel's obligations under international humanitarian law”. In contrast, the Palmer report only focuses on the naval blockade of Gaza and explicitly does not address the legality of the overall closure regime which includes sweeping restrictions on the movement of goods and persons via land crossings.
Many of the undersigned organisations have humanitarian and development programmes in Gaza and continue to witness the unnecessary daily suffering of the civilian population, over half of whom are children, due to the closure policy. The steps taken by Israel to ease some restrictions have not resulted in meaningful improvements in the lives of Gaza’s 1.6 million residents.
Since January 2011, exports from Gaza have amounted to around one per cent of pre-2007 levels, despite Israel’s promises to increase them. Imports of construction materials have remained below 20 per cent of pre-2007 levels, impeding the reconstruction of schools, hospitals, homes and businesses that were damaged and destroyed in Israel’s 2008-2009 military operation Cast Lead. The number of Palestinians allowed to leave Gaza through the Israeli crossings remains below one per cent of pre-2000 levels and even patients in need of urgent treatment outside Gaza are often still denied exit. According to the World Food Programme, three quarters of Gaza’s population continue to rely on humanitarian aid, while 54 per cent are food insecure.
The Palmer report does note that the humanitarian and human rights situation in Gaza is “unsustainable, unacceptable and not in the interests of any of those concerned”, but merely calls on Israel to “continue with its efforts to ease its restrictions on movement of goods and persons to and from Gaza”.
Instead of only easing the restrictions, Israel should be required to comply with its international legal obligations and lift its closure on Gaza fully and immediately. This means allowing exports as well as imports, subject only to legitimate and proportionate security checks, and allowing Palestinians to travel between Gaza and the West Bank, which are internationally recognised as a single territorial unit. It also means ensuring Palestinians’ access to arable land currently located inside the “buffer zone” imposed by Israel within Gaza’s perimeter and allowing Palestinian fishermen access to their coastal waters.
Sincerely,
Jean-Etienne DE LINARES
General Delegate
ACAT France
Frans Mikael JANSEN
Secretary General
ActionAid Denmark
Salil SHETTY
Secretary General
Amnesty International
Lieve HERIJGERS
Director
Broederlijk Delen (Belgium)
Chris BAIN
Director
CAFOD (UK)
Bernard PINAUD
General Delegate
CCFD-Terre Solidaire (France)
Bernd NILLES
Secretary General
CIDSE
Bo FORSBERG
Secretary General
Diakonia (Sweden)
Kamel JENDOUBI
President
Euro-Mediterranean Human
Rights Network
Donatella VERGARI
General Secretary
Terre des hommes Italy
Steven JAMES
Chief Executive
Medical Aid for Palestinians
Thomas GEBAUER
Executive Director
medico international (Germany)
Dr. Maja HESS
President
medico international schweiz
(Switzerland)
Jo HANSSENS
President
Pax Christi Flanders
Thierry MAURICET
General Director
Première Urgence - Aide Médicale
Internationale
Liz SCURFIELD
Head of Office
Quaker Council for European
Affairs
Jasmine WHITBREAD
CEO
Save the Children International
Justin KILCULLEN
Director
Trócaire (Ireland)
Freek LANDMETER
Co-director, IKV Pax Christi
United Civilians for Peace
(Netherlands)
(A coalition comprising Oxfam
Novib, Cordaid, ICCO and IKV Pax
Christi)
Labels: Letter on Gaza
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