Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK (AOHR UK) has sent a letter to the European Council calling for it to take effective action against Israel for the horrors it is unleashing on the desperate citizens of Gaza and the occupied territories.
AOHR UK has also called on believers in peace, justice and the Palestinian cause to join us by signing their names to the letter addressed to European Council President Charles Michel.
AOHR UK knows that the world is with us. Across the planet, hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets calling for an end to Israeli brutality. We are calling on those forces who cherish peace and freedom to join us in our call for real action from the European Council.
In the letter, AOHR UK notes:
“What began with restrictions on the right of worshippers to gather at Damascus Gate following Ramadan prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem soon led to Israeli authorities violently dispersing Palestinians each evening, then repeated armed raids on the sacred ground of the mosque itself.
“Widespread arrests and raids were carried out across the city at this time, while far-right settler groups swarmed across Jerusalem chanting “death to Arabs” and attacking family homes, with little restraint from the occupation authorities.
“Elsewhere in the occupied territories, Israeli forces stood by as settler groups attacked Palestinians on their land, and settlements near Bethlehem were expanded, again in violation of international law.
“Back in Jerusalem, families still face eviction from their homes in the suburb of Sheikh Jarrah, which the Israeli state deems to belong to settlers. Protests opposing the evictions have been viciously put down.”
On the situation in Gaza, AOHR UK says:
“Then to Gaza – an open prison camp, starved of medical supplies, food and water, where the desperate use of homemade rockets by resistance groups was met with hundreds of airstrikes from one of the most advanced military regimes on the planet against civilian targets.
“Dozens of Palestinians – men, women and children – have been killed, hundreds wounded, and thousands left terrified as bombs rain down on their homes. The targeting of civilians is an offence under international law, a war crime, and while Israel claims it targets “terrorist” individuals and infrastructure, its destruction of high-rise tower blocks, the murder of children, use of advanced weaponry on densely populated areas and now the attacks on the offices of media outlets shows this not to be the case. At any rate, Gazans have nowhere to go, held under siege at the behest of the Israeli state.”
On the role of the international community, the AOHR UK letter adds:
“The above violations of human rights and basic dignity are well documented. Among them, numerous international laws have been broken. However, yet again, they are met with, at best, empty calls for Israeli ‘restraint’.
“The European Union claims to champion the rule of law, human rights and the preservation of dignity. But once again its inaction in the face of slaughter, and its unwillingness to effectively confront Israel in its numerous violations of international law, risk showing these claimed principles to be just empty words.”
AOHR UK then calls on the European Council to:
- Demand that Israel halts its bombing campaign in Gaza
- Employ sanctions against Israel for its ongoing persecution of Palestinians
- Refuse arms sales to the Israeli regime
- Reaffirm the right of Palestinians to safety, worship, food, water, medical supplies and natural justice
In summary, the letter from AOHR UK states:
“This endless cycle of persecution is a dark stain on the supposed values of the western world. Unless action is finally taken, there is no end in sight to this appalling suffering.
“The EU and European Council must now make a stand for human rights. If not, it will continue to be effectively complicit in the well-documented crimes of the Israeli occupation.”
