Israel’s Brutal Harvest
Injustice provides hollow foundations for the establishment of a state. Israel has always had the choice to pursue peaceful, social and economic pathways to live in some kind of amity with those they had dispossessed, no matter how contentious, bitter or complex the process. Israel could have chosen to engage in bridge-building, conciliation, compromise, co-existence, the sharing of resources, skills, knowledge. Made space for Palestinian rights and aspirations, including a two-state solution, nurtured, negotiated and enabled by it.
South Africa, another country haunted by injustice, where the soil could’ve been drenched in blood, chose a nation-building, peaceful path. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, allowed the purging of its soul, the harrowing honesty needed to protect the future from its horrific past. The commission’s central objective was to “promote re-conciliation and forgiveness among perpetrators and victims of apartheid.” It was charged with three specific tasks: to discover the causes and nature of human rights violations in South Africa between 1960 and 1994; to identify victims with a view to paying reparations; and to allow amnesty to those who fully disclosed their involvement in politically motivated human rights violations.”
South Africa’s moving and cogent presentation to the ICJ (the International Court of Justice, also called the World Court), demonstrated the humanity and compassion to be harvested from a tormented history.
When Naledi Pandor, South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, was asked to explain, during a session of the South African Assembly, why South Africa had initiated the case, she gave a moving and humane reply. Relating that evidence had been gathered from NGOs in Israel, Palestine, and ‘peace-loving Israelis’, she went on to make the following points: The people of Palestine are denied the right to live as human beings and denied the right to enjoy the freedoms South Africans fought so hard for. “The rights and freedoms which unite us as a diverse people. … We believe all people have the right to exist in freedom, enjoying justice and humanity… We’ve never sought retribution. I have the story of my grandfather dying of a broken heart. He was a tailor, and he had worked very hard, his fingers down to the skin, to make enough money to buy a house in Durban. And they got that house, my grandfather and my grandmother. Two years after they got it, area was declared a white area. They lost that house without compensation and he essentially died of a broken heart. I have no retribution. Because today, I’m part of seeking to build a better South Africa, and our role must be to seek to build a better world. That, that benefit we enjoy of human rights, of a fantastic constitution, of having institutions that are democratic and work for all of us. That privilege is not just for us, it must be for everyone. And in any debate we have, if we’re true to ourselves, if we’re true to our history, if we’re true to what we’ve achieved, we will stand up and say ‘What is being done to the people of Palestine is wrong, is intolerable and we will not pretend to accept it.”
The Israeli state, with its own history of monstrous terror and genocide, could have taken the path of respect and understanding for the Palestinians, recognised their dignity and the injustice done to them. Engaged in reparation and peace-building. Recognised the wrongfulness, the injustice of using their own suffering to inflict suffering on others. Such an acknowledgment and guiding principle would have been a magnificent decision, an inspirational example to the world, as well as providing greater stability and safety in the region. Instead, from the beginning, Israel embarked on violence, murder, dispossession and subjugation, from the Nakba to the present. Punitively colonial, bitterly racist, designed to deliver dispossession and death.
I state categorically, that I do not support Hamas or its actions of 7 thOctober 2023. Let’s be aware that whilst Israel asserts its right to self-defence and the necessity to destroy Hamas, what it is also doing is clearing the land — extending its borders — taking over Palestinian territory.
Israel’s onslaught against civilians, against children, the elderly, men and women has been unrelenting, cruel and sadistic. As we watch our tv screens, as our blood chills in horror, we can see the devastation, the damage, the destroyed neighbourhoods. Do any of us really believe the Palestinians will be allowed back? Jonathan Cook in middleeasteye.net: “Back in September, before Hamas’ break-out from the Gaza prison on 7 October, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had shown the United Nations a map of his aspiration for what he termed “the New Middle East”. The Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank were gone, replaced by Israel.”
To justify the level of its brutality and destruction Israel unleashed the well-tried colonial strategies of dehumanisation. Palestinians were described as animals, Nazis, savages; Israeli social media compared them to rats or snakes; Netanyahu called Gaza “City of evil.” His wife Sara Netanyahu, is reported to have said: “I really hope that our revenge, that of the State of Israel, on the cruel enemy — will be a very big revenge. I don’t call them human animals because that would be insulting to animals…”
Professor Neve Gordon, from the Faculty of Law at Queen Mary University, who is of Israeli descent, comments: “Palestinians are presented as barbarian and as primitive and as people who do not understand the laws of war, people that do not make distinctions between civilians and combatants, and so forth, and therefore they are immoral, while Israel claims that it tries to protect civilians.”
To achieve Netanyahu’s objective of depopulating Palestinian land and incorporating it into Israel, over 26,083 Palestinians have been killed, over 64,487 have been wounded and many more still lie under rubble and on the roads (as of 26 thJanuary 2024). Oxfam International declared the daily death rate in Gaza higher than any other major 21stCentury conflict.” Children have been killed, shot, and amputated without anaesthetics; hospitals, schools, universities destroyed. Mercy, compassion, pity, have become one-sided, practised only within Israeli borders. Justice, law and safety branded only for Israeli use.
If, as Israel maintains, its war is a ‘just war’, its conduct should meet the three main criteria for how a just war should be fought:
- Innocent people and non-combatants should not be harmed
- Only appropriate force should be used
- Internationally agreed conventions regulating war must be obeyed
Most of us would agree that the killing of over 26,083people, including children, the elderly, the wounded, doctors, nurses, reporters; the attacks on hospitals and ambulances, the destruction of schools, universities, property and infrastructure; the murders of those carrying white flags, the degradation of men forced to strip, beatings and torture, the displacement of nearly 1.9 million people, the denial of food, water, and fuel contradict every assertion of a ‘just war,’ and confirm that Israel’s true intention is indeed genocide and displacement of the Palestinian people and thereby territorial gain.
As I was about to finish this blog the ICJ delivered its interim ruling. Below I include some of the main points:
The court ordered Israel to:
- Refrain from acts under the Genocide Convention;
- Ensure with immediate effect that its military does not commit any acts described in point 1 above;
- Prevent and Punish Incitement to Genocide;
- Take effective measures to allow humanitarian assistance;
- Take effective measures to prevent destruction of evidence;
- Submit a report to Court on compliance with all measures within one month;
Although some people have expressed disappointment at the ICJ failing to call for an immediate ceasefire, Lindsey Hilsum, International Editor for Channel 4 News commented in a tweet: “This is a big historic win for South Africa and many will say for international justice. Judges called for immediate protection of Palestinians in Gaza from potential genocide by Israel, and required Israel to report back to court in a month. This is huge.”
The ICJ ruling puts pressure on Israel and forces its backers, such as the UK and the US, who had belittled South Africa’s case, to take a stronger line with Israel, but also examine their own actions in this conflict. They should be mindful that most of the countries who supported South Africa’s case, came from the global south, many of them being former colonies. The message is clear, if they’re prepared to read it: the consequences of colonialism, racism and injustice result in dehumanisation, conflict and destruction. The ‘ white man’s burden’ mythology can no longer be used to invade other countries or assist Israel in its genocide of the Palestinian people and the takeover of their land.
For South Africa and the global south, the ICJ interim ruling is a tremendous victory, a milestone moment to be remembered for decades to come. The brutal assault of Israel against the Palestinian people was presented in open court and believed.
The following information has been taken from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa_v._Israel_(Genocide_Convention)#In_support
In support
South Africa’s case has been supported by the following states and international organizations:
- Algeria[106]
- Bangladesh[16]
- Bolivia[107]
- Brazil[108][109][110]
- Chile[111]
- Colombia[108][112]
- Comoros[113]
- Cuba[114]
- Djibouti[113]
- Indonesia[115]
- Iran[116]
- Iraq[117]
- Jordan[118]
- Lebanon[119]
- Libya[120]
- Malaysia[121]
- Maldives[122]
- Namibia[16]
- Nicaragua[16]
- Pakistan[123]
- Palestine[16]
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines[124]
- Slovenia[125][126]
- Syria[127]
- Turkey[121]
- Venezuela[16]
- Zimbabwe[128][129]
- Arab League[130]
- Organisation of Islamic Cooperation[131]
- Non-Aligned Movement[132]
In opposition
- Australia[139]
- Austria[140]
- Czech Republic[140]
- France[141]
- Germany[142]
- Guatemala[143]
- Hungary[140]
- Israel
- Italy[144]
- Paraguay[111]
- United States[145]
- United Kingdom[64]
Movements, parties, and unions
The lawsuit has also been supported by hundreds of activist groups, NGOs, political parties, unions, and other organizations, with (as of mid-January 2024) over 1400 showing support in the form of a letter organized by the newly-formed International Coalition to Stop Genocide in Palestine. Some of that letter’s signatories, and other supportive organizations, include:
- Al-Haq[167]
- Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights[167]
- Amnesty International[168]
- Boycott from Within[163][166][169]
- CodePink[170][161][162]
- De-Colonizer[171][163][166]
- Democratic Socialists of America[163]
- Human Rights Watch[36][172][16]
- International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network[163]
- International People’s Assembly[92]
- Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions[163][166][173]
- Israelis Against Apartheid[163][166][174][175]
- Jewish Voice for Peace[163]
- La Via Campesina[92]
- National Lawyers Guild[161]
- Nelson Mandela Foundation[176]
- New Zealand Labour Party[177][178]
- Palestinian Centre for Human Rights[167]
- Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions[92]
- Palestinian NGO Network[92]
- Progressive International[170][161][162]
- RootsAction[170][161][162]
- People’s Forum[170][161][162]
- Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom[179]
- World Beyond War[170][161][162]
- World March of Women[92
Originally published at https://www.ravinderrandhawa.com on January 27, 2024.