Tag: Amnesty International

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Under Apartheid – Hello from Gaza by Aya Al-Ghazzawi

Please TAKE ACTION RIGHT NOW and send your letter to the UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the International Criminal Court Prosecutor.

Many Palestinian, Israeli, and international human rights organisations have described Israel’s policies against Palestinians as apartheid, the latest of which was Amnesty International. Their new report documents the crimes perpetrated by Israel, along with strong and highly valued legal analysis. But many of us here would say that what we suffer in Gaza goes beyond being just a Bantustan. Many would say we live in something that feels like a slow genocide. We have been enduring crimes against humanity for decades. I worry our suffering is being normalised. We need global solidarity and mass mobilisation more than ever. We need more people who believe in human rights for all to speak out. We need to build an international anti-apartheid movement all over again.

Continue reading at https://www.amnesty.org.uk/blogs/campaigns-blog/under-apartheid-hello-gaza

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Amnesty International: Whitewashing Another Massacre by Paul de Rooij

It is this history that must serve as the foundation of any report that attempts to describe both the intent of the participating parties and the relative consequences… To determine the reasons behind Israeli actions, one only has to read what their Dr. Strangeloves say – it is no secret. The aim is to create miserable conditions to drive the Palestinians off their land, warehouse the population in an open air prison called Gaza, and to disproportionately repress any Palestinian resistance. Israelis have to “kill and kill and kill, all day”. Such pathological reasoning put Israeli actions into perspective; they are major crimes, possibly genocidal. Recognition of such crimes has some consequences…

Amnesty however refuses to acknowledge the serious nature of Israeli crimes, by using an intellectually bankrupt subterfuge; it insists that as a rights-based organization it cannot refer to historical context – doing so would be considered “political” in its warped jargon.

Continue reading at http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/05/08/amnesty-international-whitewashing-another-massacre/

TAKE ACTION now and write a letter to the UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the International Criminal Court Prosecutor. Make sure to post a copy of the letter in our comments as well, so we can publish it.
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Amnesty calls on UN powers to surrender veto on genocide votes

Amnesty International has urged the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to give up their power of veto in cases where atrocities are being committed… The rights group urged the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States – to renounce their veto rights in situations of genocide and mass atrocities. Since 2011, Russia and China have cast four vetoes to block international action in Syria, where more than 210,000 have been killed since the conflict began, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Security Council has failed to deal with conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Gaza, Israel and Ukraine, even when civilians had been subjected to “horrific crimes”, Amnesty said.

Continue reading at http://nation.com.pk/national/26-Feb-2015/amnesty-calls-on-un-powers-to-surrender-veto-on-genocide-votes

TAKE ACTION now and write a letter to the UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide. Make sure to post a copy of the letter in our comments as well, so we can publish it.
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“Open a criminal investigation against Israel for their war crimes and do not let the murder of over 2000 people go in vain, as well as the silent holocaust that Palestinians are facing since the illegal creation of Israel.”

2 December, 2014

Madame/Sir,

I am writing to you, very disturbed that the UN was created to govern nations of occupying other nations illegally. For 66 years, Israel has committed from single war crimes atrocities to massive massacres since it has been illegally created as a state.

From previous attacks on a civilian population of Palestinians, unarmed, and helpless, from Gaza To The Westbank, Israel has gotten away with acts of war crimes, most recent “Operation Protective Edge”…evidence has been proven the bombing campaign that Israel claimed it did to “defend itself” and destroy tunnels is absurd when UN officials, UNICEF employees and Amnesty have repeatedly told UN that Israel has attacked schools, shelters and hospitals, including arresting and detaining children under the age of 11, wrote reports of the torture and sexual assaults on these children held in Israel prison.

Why isn’t Israel held accountable for breaking these resolutions set forth? Thus far it has repeatedly broken 65 and have not faced repercussions or sancations. Yet any nation that has broken just ONE seems to be held accountable.

We demand an investigation, not only for Israel bombing of Gaza in 2014, but the attacks before. The illegal use of white sulfur on the population of Gaza that many people working with the UN have seen with their own eyes, seen snipers with their own eyes target Palestinians, seen the beating and torture of Palestinians, seen illegal settlers kidnap, beat, kill, run over Palestinians and yet we ask why Palestinians retaliate.

By UN Resolutions, we the Palestinians under illegal occupation have the RIGHT and LAW to resistance occupation.

Asking you again to open a criminal investigation against Israel for their war crimes and do not let the murder of over 2000 people in 2014 in 50 days murders go in vain, as well as the silent holocaust that Palestinians are facing since the illegal creation of Israel.

Thank you.
Wafa Shahadeh
USA/Ohio

Click for more of  YOUR LETTERS TO THE UN

TAKE ACTION now and write your own letter to the UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide. Make sure to post a copy of the letter in our comments as well, so we can publish it.
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Amnesty International: Trigger Happy – Israel’s Use of Excessive Force in the West Bank

5. ISRAEL’S OBLIGATIONS UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW
Several bodies of international law apply to Israel’s conduct in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem…  International criminal law, which establishes individual criminal responsibility for certain violations and abuses of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, such as war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, as well as torture, extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearance…

5.5 INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW
Individuals, including military personnel and law enforcement officers, can be held criminally
responsible for certain violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian
law.
Under the principle of universal jurisdiction, all states have an obligation to investigate and, where
enough admissible evidence is gathered, prosecute crimes under international law, including
genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, torture, extrajudicial executions and enforced
disappearances.

Continue reading at http://www.amnesty.org/fr/library/asset/MDE15/002/2014/en/349188ef-e14a-418f-ac20-6c9e5c8d9f88/mde150022014en.pdf

TAKE ACTION now and write a letter to the UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide. Make sure to post a copy of the letter in our comments as well, so we can publish it.