Occupied Palestine, 1 June 2010 – The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions National Committee (BNC) strongly condemns last night’s fatal
attack by the Israeli navy on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla carrying
humanitarian aid to the occupied and besieged Gaza Strip. The BNC conveys
Palestinian civil society’s condolences to the families and friends of
those killed by the Israeli assault and warmly salutes the principled
solidarity and moral commitment of all those involved in the Gaza Freedom
Flotilla. In response, the BNC calls on international civil society to:
– Mobilize for an emergency Global BDS DAY OF ACTION on SATURDAY 5 JUNE
2010 — the 43rd anniversary of the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West
Bank, including East Jerusalem
– Pressure governments to start implementing trade sanctions and arms
embargos
We call specifically on transport and dock workers and unions around the
globe to:
– Refuse to load/offload Israeli ships and airplanes, following the
historic example set by the South African Transport and Allied Workers
Union (SATAWU) in Durban in February 2009 and endorsed by the Maritime
Union of Australia (Western Australia). _______________
The Flotilla, which was attacked in international waters in violation of
international law, was carrying relief supplies that Israel has
persistently prevented from entering Gaza, including medical supplies,
cement and food. Israel’s siege is considered a form of collective
punishment, a war crime under Article 33 of the Geneva Convention. All of
the relief workers and activists on board the Gaza Flotilla ships were
unarmed. In legal terms, Israel’s military assault against the Flotilla is
an act of aggression against the countries whose flags the ships were
carrying; politically, it is an assault against human decency and all
people of conscience around the world who support freedom and justice. Israel’s impunity
is the direct result of the international
community’s failure to hold it accountable for its ongoing occupation,
colonization and apartheid against the Palestinian people. Israel’s most
recent war crimes committed in Gaza and documented in the Goldstone report
as well as crimes committed in 2006 against the Lebanese people did not
trigger any UN or official sanctions, entrenching Israel’s feeling of
being above the law. In fact, Israel’s grave violation of international
law was recently rewarded when the OECD voted unanimously to accept its
membership. The BNC urges international civil society to end this deep and
fatal complicity. The BNC also welcomes and affirms the call of the UN expert on human
rights Prof. Richard Falk who stated, “It is time to insist on the end of
the blockade of Gaza. The worldwide campaign of boycott, divestment, and
sanctions against Israel is now a moral and political imperative, and needs
to be supported and strengthened everywhere.”[1] The UN Security Council has,
unsurprisingly, failed to hold Israel
accountable for its aggression against the Gaza Freedom Flotilla.[2] The
BNC calls upon the UN General Assembly, the European Union, the Arab League
and their member states to undertake practical measures which will end
Israel’s impunity for its massive and systematic violation of international
law, including by:
– Immediately ending all collusion with Israel’s unlawful blockade of the
Gaza Strip and pressuring Israel’s to guarantee unrestricted humanitarian
access and freedom of movement of people and products into and out of the
Gaza Strip; – Bringing to justice all Israeli officials and military personnel who
took the decision and/or implemented this latest massacre as well as
earlier war crimes; – Pressuring your government to immediately suspend arms trade with
Israel, and to implement trade sanctions and arms embargos against Israel.
– In particular, we call on the EU to suspend the EU-Israel Association
Agreement, the Mercosur to suspend the FTA, India to reverse decision to
hold negotiations around an India-Israel FTA and to stop arms deals with
Israel, and Turkey to impose an arms embargo on Israel. The BNC also calls on people of
conscience and citizen groups all over the
world to intensify BDS campaigns against Israel as the most effective means
of holding it accountable to international law and ending its fatal
impunity. For action ideas and updates, please see:
http://www.wattan.tv/emailmaker/link.php?M=6529&N=94&L=444&F=T
For more information and coordination of action, please contact:
Ziyaad Lunat (Europe) ziyaad@bdsmovement.net
Michael Deas (Europe) bnc.europe@bdsmovement.net
+4412465822
[1] For the full statement of Prof. Richard Falk, see:
http://www.wattan.tv/emailmaker/link.php?M=6529&N=94&L=445&F=T [2] SC/9940 of 31
May 2010, UN Security Council, Presidential
Statement S/PRST/2010/9
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