People's Democracy

R Arun Kumar

"KILLING an ant is a greater crime than killing a man," stated Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez, a dictator who ruled El Salvador in 1932. Today's rulers of Israel too share this idea. With shameless monstrosity they are indulging in one of the worst crimes on humanity in Gaza. They are closely following the lead of their mentor- the US-in murdering innocent citizens. Even after witnessing Afghanistan and Iraq, every sensible human being is shaken out of their numbness watching the gory in Gaza.

Infants, children, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers are dying in the air raids and ground offensive. Israeli military had bombed a clinic run by the Near East Council of Churches and destroyed hundreds of thousands of dollars worth equipment and most importantly life saving drugs. The ICRC states that some of the primary health centres too were damaged in the air raids. Israel is preventing medical aid and relief from reaching the people in dire need of it and thus indirectly strangulating them.

According to International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC), its war-surgery team waited for three days to secure Israeli authorisation to enter Gaza and finally entered on January 5. The ICRC states that they had sought permission from the Israeli military for a safe passage for its ambulances on the January 3 and got it only on January 7. Kr�henb�hl, director of operations of ICRC, recounting the tragedy of a woman in northern Gaza who gave birth to a dead baby because the ambulances couldn't reach her in time, said that people are �dying because ambulances can't reach them in time, which is frankly appalling�.

Deploring the behaviour of the Israeli military, ICRC issued an unusually blunt statement. It stated that when a team of four ambulances went to Zeitoun, they found �four small children next to their dead mothers in one of the houses. They were too weak to stand up on their own. One man was also found alive, too weak to stand up. In all, there were at least 12 corpses lying on mattresses. Israeli soldiers posted at a military position some 80 meters away from this house ordered the rescue team to leave the area which they refused to do. There were several other positions of the Israeli defense forces nearby as well as two tanks�.

Pierre Wettach, the ICRC's head of delegation for Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories said, �The Israeli military must have been aware of the situation, but did not assist the wounded. Neither did they make it possible for us or the Palestine Red Crescent to assist the wounded. The ICRC believes that in this instance, the Israeli military failed to meet its obligation under international humanitarian law to care for and evacuate the wounded. It considers the delay in allowing rescue services access unacceptable�.

Condemning the attack on UNRWA shelter in Jabaliya by the Israeli forces which killed and injured a large number of people, ICRC said it was 'shocked'. �We too had referred families who were seeking safety to this particular shelter. This is a very serious incident which shows that people cannot be sure of finding safety anywhere right now�.

WHO states that 21 medical personnel had died, 30 more injured and 11 ambulances struck by Israeli attacks. In all, four of UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) staff involved in supplying relief material and aid to the refugees were killed. Antoine Grand, head of the ICRC office in Gaza mentions that many of the relief workers are stating that rescue and relief operations are becoming very, very dangerous and that they are 'scared'. �To hear such words from Palestine Red Crescent paramedics, who are among the bravest � and who have been working under fire, in extremely difficult conditions � makes our call for safe access and security ever more pressing�. According to the international humanitarian law (IHL) quoted by the president of ICRC, Jakob Kellenberger, medical personnel, ambulances, hospitals and other medical units must be respected and protected-precisely what Israel didn�t.

IHL requires parties to a conflict to pay particular attention to the types of weapons and munitions used and their possible effects on civilians and civilian infrastructure. They also prohibit the use of indiscriminate weapons like cluster bombs, white phosphorous on civilians and in densely populated areas. But this is precisely what Israel is doing. All the incidents that were mentioned by the ICRC, the attacks on the UN relief workers, on the UN refugee shelter, on schools etc., also are damning proof of Israel's transgression of the IHL.

The UN had stated that it would enquire into these incidents and come out with a report. If the investigation found that Israel is guilty on these counts then it could be tried for war crimes. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, stated that the incident �appears to have all the elements of war crimes�.

The UN special rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, Richard Falk, has labelled what Israel is doing as �a crime against humanity�a flagrant and massive violation of international humanitarian law as laid down in Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention�. It is for the first time since the heydays of apartheid in South Africa that the UN representatives are denouncing any country in such terms. For stating the facts he was debarred from entering Gaza and detained in a filthy lock-up for 20 hours.

ICRC also records the collateral damage done to the infrastructure and states that most of the high-voltage lines bringing electricity from Israel into Gaza have been damaged during the air raids. �Ten of Gaza City's 45 water wells are no longer working as a result of this, others were damaged in air strikes and yet others are expected to stop working soon�. The ICRC states that many people were calling them telling that �they had not had drinking water for almost six days because the well supplying water to their houses had been damaged�. It fears the spread of many diseases because of the water scarcity.

Another serious crisis looming large is the scarcity of power to the hospitals which are entirely dependent on generators. Kr�henb�hl, director of operations for ICRC in that area states, �these generators could break down at any moment from the lack of maintenance and spare parts over the past 18 months...there was concern that two hospitals were about to run out of generator fuel. The ICRC is trying to solve this problem by negotiating safe passage for UNRWA fuel tankers�. Tetanus vaccine, life saving drugs, anaesthetics, pain killers, body bags and sheets to wrap the dead are running out of supply. ICRC states that it is trying to ensure their availability. Nobody knows how long would it take.

To understand the gravity of the situation a recap of the geography of Gaza is essential. Gaza is a small strip of 146 sq kilometres. It is in such a small swath of land that nearly 1.5 million Palestinians live. Surrounded on three sides by Israel and the Mediterranean on the other side (with a small tiny border with Egypt in the south) it is virtually a prison. Nothing can pass in or out of Gaza without the permission of the Israeli authorities. Israel is strangling Gaza and its intensity increased after the victory of Hamas in the democratic elections held in Palestine in 2006. Falk states that Israel maintains its �Gaza siege in its full fury, allowing only barely enough food and fuel to enter to stave off mass famine and disease�. Quite remorselessly, Israel defends its polices. Dov Weisglass, an adviser to the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said, �The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger.� Result - 1.1 million people dependent on food aid, one in four children malnourished and 70 per cent suffering from Vitamin A deficiency.

Nothing more than the present day war can explain more explicitly the barbarian cruelty. 1028 dead, more than 40 per cent of them women and children. 90,000 forced away from their houses. 35,000 staying in 38 UNRWA refugee camps.

For record, UNHRC had voted condemning Israel, UNESCO condemned the killing of a journalist in the attacks and called Israel to allow media into Gaza, UNICEF demanded the safety and protection of children from the attacks.

The UN Security Council has the authority to order an investigation and set up a war crimes tribunal. Israel knows well that once brought to the dock, the veil would be off and they would stand exposed. It needs to be seen whether UNSC would set up a war crime tribunal and if Israel would allow UNHRC to carry this investigation.

Infants, children, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers are dying in the air raids and ground offensive. Israeli military had bombed a clinic run by the Near East Council of Churches and destroyed hundreds of thousands of dollars worth equipment and most importantly life saving drugs. The ICRC states that some of the primary health centres too were damaged in the air raids. Israel is preventing medical aid and relief from reaching the people in dire need of it and thus indirectly strangulating them.

According to International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC), its war-surgery team waited for three days to secure Israeli authorisation to enter Gaza and finally entered on January 5. The ICRC states that they had sought permission from the Israeli military for a safe passage for its ambulances on the January 3 and got it only on January 7. Kr�henb�hl, director of operations of ICRC, recounting the tragedy of a woman in northern Gaza who gave birth to a dead baby because the ambulances couldn't reach her in time, said that people are �dying because ambulances can't reach them in time, which is frankly appalling�.

Deploring the behaviour of the Israeli military, ICRC issued an unusually blunt statement. It stated that when a team of four ambulances went to Zeitoun, they found �four small children next to their dead mothers in one of the houses. They were too weak to stand up on their own. One man was also found alive, too weak to stand up. In all, there were at least 12 corpses lying on mattresses. Israeli soldiers posted at a military position some 80 meters away from this house ordered the rescue team to leave the area which they refused to do. There were several other positions of the Israeli defense forces nearby as well as two tanks�.

Pierre Wettach, the ICRC's head of delegation for Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories said, �The Israeli military must have been aware of the situation, but did not assist the wounded. Neither did they make it possible for us or the Palestine Red Crescent to assist the wounded. The ICRC believes that in this instance, the Israeli military failed to meet its obligation under international humanitarian law to care for and evacuate the wounded. It considers the delay in allowing rescue services access unacceptable�.

Condemning the attack on UNRWA shelter in Jabaliya by the Israeli forces which killed and injured a large number of people, ICRC said it was 'shocked'. �We too had referred families who were seeking safety to this particular shelter. This is a very serious incident which shows that people cannot be sure of finding safety anywhere right now�.

WHO states that 21 medical personnel had died, 30 more injured and 11 ambulances struck by Israeli attacks. In all, four of UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) staff involved in supplying relief material and aid to the refugees were killed. Antoine Grand, head of the ICRC office in Gaza mentions that many of the relief workers are stating that rescue and relief operations are becoming very, very dangerous and that they are 'scared'. �To hear such words from Palestine Red Crescent paramedics, who are among the bravest � and who have been working under fire, in extremely difficult conditions � makes our call for safe access and security ever more pressing�. According to the international humanitarian law (IHL) quoted by the president of ICRC, Jakob Kellenberger, medical personnel, ambulances, hospitals and other medical units must be respected and protected-precisely what Israel didn�t.

IHL requires parties to a conflict to pay particular attention to the types of weapons and munitions used and their possible effects on civilians and civilian infrastructure. They also prohibit the use of indiscriminate weapons like cluster bombs, white phosphorous on civilians and in densely populated areas. But this is precisely what Israel is doing. All the incidents that were mentioned by the ICRC, the attacks on the UN relief workers, on the UN refugee shelter, on schools etc., also are damning proof of Israel's transgression of the IHL.

The UN had stated that it would enquire into these incidents and come out with a report. If the investigation found that Israel is guilty on these counts then it could be tried for war crimes. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, stated that the incident �appears to have all the elements of war crimes�.

The UN special rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, Richard Falk, has labelled what Israel is doing as �a crime against humanity�a flagrant and massive violation of international humanitarian law as laid down in Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention�. It is for the first time since the heydays of apartheid in South Africa that the UN representatives are denouncing any country in such terms. For stating the facts he was debarred from entering Gaza and detained in a filthy lock-up for 20 hours.

ICRC also records the collateral damage done to the infrastructure and states that most of the high-voltage lines bringing electricity from Israel into Gaza have been damaged during the air raids. �Ten of Gaza City's 45 water wells are no longer working as a result of this, others were damaged in air strikes and yet others are expected to stop working soon�. The ICRC states that many people were calling them telling that �they had not had drinking water for almost six days because the well supplying water to their houses had been damaged�. It fears the spread of many diseases because of the water scarcity.

Another serious crisis looming large is the scarcity of power to the hospitals which are entirely dependent on generators. Kr�henb�hl, director of operations for ICRC in that area states, �these generators could break down at any moment from the lack of maintenance and spare parts over the past 18 months...there was concern that two hospitals were about to run out of generator fuel. The ICRC is trying to solve this problem by negotiating safe passage for UNRWA fuel tankers�. Tetanus vaccine, life saving drugs, anaesthetics, pain killers, body bags and sheets to wrap the dead are running out of supply. ICRC states that it is trying to ensure their availability. Nobody knows how long would it take.

To understand the gravity of the situation a recap of the geography of Gaza is essential. Gaza is a small strip of 146 sq kilometres. It is in such a small swath of land that nearly 1.5 million Palestinians live. Surrounded on three sides by Israel and the Mediterranean on the other side (with a small tiny border with Egypt in the south) it is virtually a prison. Nothing can pass in or out of Gaza without the permission of the Israeli authorities. Israel is strangling Gaza and its intensity increased after the victory of Hamas in the democratic elections held in Palestine in 2006. Falk states that Israel maintains its �Gaza siege in its full fury, allowing only barely enough food and fuel to enter to stave off mass famine and disease�. Quite remorselessly, Israel defends its polices. Dov Weisglass, an adviser to the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said, �The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger.� Result - 1.1 million people dependent on food aid, one in four children malnourished and 70 per cent suffering from Vitamin A deficiency.

Nothing more than the present day war can explain more explicitly the barbarian cruelty. 1028 dead, more than 40 per cent of them women and children. 90,000 forced away from their houses. 35,000 staying in 38 UNRWA refugee camps.

For record, UNHRC had voted condemning Israel, UNESCO condemned the killing of a journalist in the attacks and called Israel to allow media into Gaza, UNICEF demanded the safety and protection of children from the attacks.

The UN Security Council has the authority to order an investigation and set up a war crimes tribunal. Israel knows well that once brought to the dock, the veil would be off and they would stand exposed. It needs to be seen whether UNSC would set up a war crime tribunal and if Israel would allow UNHRC to carry this investigation.