Communiqué du Réseau des ONG palestiniennes (PNGO), mercredi 15 octobre 2014

http://www.plateforme-palestine.org/Palestinian-NGOs-Network-and-Human,4162

Palestinian NGOs Network and Human Rights Organizations Urge U.N. Secretary General to Push for Immediate Lifting Instead of Legitimization of Closure over the Gaza Strip

Le Réseau des ONG palestiniennes (PNGO) salue la visite de Ban Ki-moon même si cette dernière est tardive. Le PNGO et des organisations des droits de l’Homme expriment certaines observations et réserves quant à l’attitude de Ban Ki-moon envers l’offensive israéliennes contre la bande de Gaza :
 le silence de la communauté internationale en connivence avec l’occupation israélienne au nom d’un « droit à l’auto-défense » a encouragé Israël à continuer ses violations sérieuses et systématiques du droit international s’apparentant à des crimes de guerre et des crimes contre l’humanité.
 le manque de volonté de la part des participants à la conférence des donateurs du Caire du 12 octobre à mettre un terme au blocus de la bande de Gaza.
 les mécanismes de contrôle proposés par l’initiative Serry institutionnalise le blocus et retarderont la reconstruction.
 La garantie qu’une offensive israélienne et les destructions conséquentes ne se répètent pas à l’avenir réside dans la fin de l’impunité dont jouit Israël.

The brief visit of the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to the offensive-ravaged Gaza today comes after a 51-day brutal Israeli offensive on the blockaded Gaza Strip.During the offensive, Israeli forces killed 2,203 Palestinians, including 530 children and 300 women, and wounded 11,000 others. Moreover, dozens of houses, public and private facilities, factories, industrial workshops, shops, agricultural lands and projects, as well as the infrastructure and electricity and water networks were all destroyed.
The Palestinian NGOs Network PNGO and human rights organizations welcome this visit even though it is late. We were waiting for this visit amidst the Israeli offensive and the systematic crimes that were committed against civilians and civilian objects, as a moral act, an effort to show solidarity with the Palestinian people and an attempt to stop the Israeli offensive. Therefore, the Network and human rights organizations stressed a number of observations and reservations upon the reactions of Ban Ki-moon to the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip as follows :
1. The silence of the international community over the Israeli offensive on Gaza that amounted to collusion with the Israeli occupation under the title of « the right of self-defense » and was apparent in the UN’s statements made by Ban Ki-moon during the Israeli offensive encouraged Israel to continue committing serious and systematic violations amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity. In addition,statements of the UN, whose charter does not give the occupation the right of self-defense, included unacceptable legal and political fallacies.

2. The civil society with great interest followed the donors’conference conducted in Egypt on Sunday, 12 October 2014, that concluded with financial commitments of USD 5.4 billion for the reconstruction of Gaza Strip.Furthermore, civil society followed speeches and statements during the conference. However, we were shocked and disappointed firstly by the conferees’ disregard for putting an end to the Israeli closure of the Gaza Strip that constitutes a form of collective punishment against civilians according to international law experts and UN rapporteurs, and secondly by their disregard for the Palestinians right to free movement of goods and people and establishing a mechanism for free communication between Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank on the one hand and the Gaza Strip and the world on the other hand as a basic condition for the reconstruction process.

3. The monitoring mechanism proposed by the UN, which is known as Robert Serry’s initiative, contributes to the institutionalization of the closure and will extend and delay the reconstruction process. The initiative will also make the Israeli authorities solely control the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, due to which, the reconstruction process will no longer be a right of the Palestinian people, the Palestinian victims’ right to compensation will be dismissed and the international community, not Israel as an Occupying Power, will be responsible for paying the bill of compensation and reconstruction.

4. The Israeli occupation guarantees of non-recurrence of the offensive and non-destruction of what will be built lies in promoting the principle of accountability by prosecuting the Israeli war criminals and putting an end to the policy of conspiracy that encourages impunity.

5. It seems that development and reconstruction in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) would be impossible without ending the occupation and ensuring the Palestinian people’s inalienable rights to self-determination and return as an implementation of the UN resolutions.
Thus, any attempts to link the reconstruction process and the resumption of the US sponsored direct negotiations do not reflect any real desire to end the occupation, rather it shows a desire to repeat the previous scenario that lasted for over 20 years and has been used by Israel to impose new facts via settlement activities, construction of the annexation wall, creating Jewish majority in Jerusalem, the closure over the Gaza Strip and exercising control over resources and borders.
The undersigned organizations hope that the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon works on offering remedy for victims and ensuring their rights, in addition to not compromise human rights, which forms a basis for the UN political and diplomatic moves, in any negotiations or political talks
Offering remedy for victims and endorsement of human rights, including the Palestinian people’s rights to freedom, self-determination and return, only lies in ending all forms of the Israeli occupation, including the closure, and not pushing forward its institutionalization.

Palestinian NGOs Network
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights
Al-Dameer Association for Human Rights