A genocide cannot be looked at, it must be fought and it stops!
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) once again puts the oppression of Palestinians in the spotlight. At the request of the United Nations General Assembly, it must rule on the “legality” of the prolonged occupation of the Palestinian territory by Israel.
Very opportunely, the ICJ hearings are an opportunity to remind us that everything did not start on October 7.
Questioning the Court on the legality of the Israeli occupation is already providing one of the elements of answers since in law the occupation of a territory can only be temporary. After 57 years of colonization, ethnic cleansing, annexation, denial of all the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people, we are no longer in a temporary situation but in a de facto annexation.
This week of hearing of the ICJ is an opportunity for the Palestinians to recall that it has been more than 100 years since their sovereignty over their land was denied by the colonial powers of the time who granted themselves the power to offer share a territory that did not belong to them. A negation that still lasts today.
The opportunity to recall that the blockade of the Gaza Strip, an integral part of the Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, is a collective punishment imposed by Israel on the Palestinians for 17 years, in violation of international law.
The opportunity to recall that the occupying power has the duty to ensure the security of the population living in the territory it occupies. A duty that Israel has trampled on for 57 years since what characterizes this occupation is its violence, the constant repressive measures, the attacks, the assassinations, the arbitrary imprisonments, the support for the settlers in the violence they carry out in any impunity against Palestinians living under military occupation.
A military occupation that the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stéphane Séjourné, seems to be unaware of since he never mentions its name.
The opportunity to recall that Israel has put in place, in order to bring about its colonial project, a regime of domination and oppression against the Palestinian people as a whole, a regime which corresponds in every way to the definition in law of the crime of apartheid.
And of course the opportunity to dive back into the heart of the burning news, that of the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip. A genocide made possible by the invisibilization and dehumanization of the Palestinians, by the denial of their rights and their existence as a people, by the establishment of this apartheid regime. A genocide made possible by the impunity that the great powers have offered Israel for decades. Logically, from war crimes to crimes against humanity, Israel slipped without ever being prevented towards the crime of genocide!
On February 26, it will be a month since the ICJ ordered Israel to ensure the protection of civilians in Gaza and to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid. Since then the situation has only gotten worse: continued bombings and forced displacements, Rafah threatened, famine, lack of water, impossibility of providing care.
A month since the signatory States of the convention against the risk of genocide which have the duty to do everything to prevent it and the obligation to apply the orders of the ICJ have done nothing, making themselves complicit in the ongoing genocide . However, there is no shortage of sanctions to be applied immediately to Israel: it is enough to follow what was done against Russia. Worse, some continue to deliver weapons to Israel and become actors in this genocide. Stéphane Séjourné, for his part, claims not to know if France is delivering weapons to Israel!
Beyond the immediate cessation of all arms deliveries, all military and security cooperation with Israel must be stopped. For the European Union, the association agreement with Israel should have been suspended a long time ago. Likewise, how can European countries still accept products from Israeli colonies on their territory?
How many tens of thousands of deaths, destruction, what level of suffering, famine, what level of horror in the daily lives of hundreds of thousands of children do you need, Mr. Macron, Mr. Séjourné to ACT.
It has been almost five months since people around the world have demonstrated their solidarity with the Palestinian people, screamed their indignation, and demanded an end to these monstrous crimes.
It’s almost five months, after unconditional support for Israel, you still do NOTHING to stop these crimes apart from a few rare protests! You know, however, that words have no power over Israel and its Prime Minister, that is nothing new.
Are you finally going to decide to ACT? Israel is murdering all of humanity right now, and you are watching. A genocide cannot be looked at, it must be fought and it stops!
Anne Tuaillon, President of the AFPS
