Statement from European Jews for a Just Peace: The silence of the International community in the face of the carnage wrought by the Israeli army in the northern Gaza strip is unbearable.
Coming so soon after Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, the decision to style the operation “Days of Penitence” compounds the outrage.
Sharon’s cynicism is clearly demonstrated. Disengagement is being prepared through terror against the civilian population. The creation of “security” areas, where houses, agricultural land and property is destroyed and razed to the ground is no more than a land grab, mirroring the effects of the separation barrier in the West Bank. Even ‘potential’ launch sites – i.e. orchards – are being razed.
The plan for Gaza has nothing to do with peace and everything to do with the subjugation of the Palestinians to control by the Israeli army. It has nothing to do with ending the occupation through a negotiated withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories. It has nothing to do with the only hope for progress towards a peaceful and just solution of the conflict.
European Jews for a Just Peace calls on civil society to pressurise the European Union and the International community to stop the Israeli government from continuing the massacre and the human rights violations in the Gaza strip.
We call on participants at the imminent European Social Forum in London to plan and coordinate mobilizations and concrete action on an International level, in support of the Palestinian people and in support of the Israeli peace movement.
We call on all Israeli soldiers to follow the example of the 1000 or more refuseniks, who oppose the Occupation and who will not serve in the Israeli Army because of it, to refuse to take part in the brutal and illegal actions.
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EJJP is a network of 18 Jewish Peace groups in 10 European countries.
