Date: 29 Nev, 2023
Time: 13:00 local time
Original Language: Arabic
Press Release
On the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People I
The International Commission “Hashd” Calls on the International Community to Translate Its Solidarity with the Palestinian People into Practical Steps to Stop Genocidal Crimes and Israeli War Crimes, and Support the Struggle and Rights of the Palestinian People
The International Commission to Support Palestinians Rights (Hashd) extends its greetings to our Palestinian people, the free people of the world, and advocates for humanity and rights on the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, which falls on November 29, 2023. On this day, our people, the world, and the United Nations commemorate this day every year as a global day of solidarity with the Palestinian people, in accordance with the resolution issued by the United Nations General Assembly in 1977, considering it a reminder of the world’s attention to the Palestinian cause and their suffering due to ongoing occupation. It emphasizes their inalienable rights according to successive international decisions regarding independence, sovereignty, the right of return for refugees, and the resolution 194 of the United Nations General Assembly.
The International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People is a renewed occasion to remind the world of the Palestinians’ suffering from genocide, ethnic cleansing, injustice, arbitrariness, and persecution due to the failure of the international community, led by the United Nations, to fulfill its responsibilities towards the Palestinian issue and to uphold their promises to the Palestinian people, as stated in their affirmation of the justice of the Palestinian cause and the rights of the Palestinian people to independence, sovereignty, and the right of return for refugees to their homes and lands from which they were displaced in 1948, and to compensate them, according to the resolution 194 of the United Nations General Assembly.
Solidarity with the oppressed Palestinian people is a solidarity with justice, principles, and the texts of international laws, charters, and agreements. It is solidarity with the justice that the Palestinian people aspire to live under after securing their rights acknowledged by the decisions of the United Nations General Assembly and recognized by the world, except for the Israeli war forces and their supporters, who continue to oppress the Palestinian people, provide them with reasons for power and protection, and maintain their occupation of our land.
The suffering of the Palestinian people continues due to the prolonged military occupation of Palestinian territories, forced displacement, and the ongoing crimes of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and racial discrimination committed by Israeli occupation forces. They violate the civil, political, economic, and social rights of the Palestinian people in all their locations. The occupation persists in denying the rights of the Palestinian people and continues its wide and unprecedented aggression on the Gaza Strip, including field executions, colonial settlement policies, arbitrary arrests, and abuse of prisoners in the occupation’s prisons, numbering 7,500 male and female prisoners. Additionally, there are other crimes of civil Judaization in Jerusalem, desecration of holy places, especially Al-Aqsa Mosque, and other policies, measures, decisions, and legislation that disregard all international norms, agreements, and legitimate international resolutions.
This annual commemoration of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People comes as the Gaza Strip is still enduring an unprecedented 55-day war aggression, where the Israeli occupation state committed genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, and forced displacement. This aggression resulted in the killing and martyrdom of nearly 15,000 Palestinians, including 6,150 children and 4,000 women, 73 journalists, 108 employees of the International Relief Agency, 230 medical and rescue personnel, and civil defense. Moreover, more than 7,000 people are still missing under the rubble among the martyrs, including 4,700 children and women.
The Israeli aggression caused injuries to more than 36,000 people, 75% of whom are children and women. The continuous ceasefire for the fifth day reveals the immense destruction caused by air strikes, artillery, and naval bombardment that targeted Gaza, using more than 40,000 tons of explosives, equivalent to four nuclear bombs. This resulted in the destruction of 60% of residential units, about 50,000 housing units completely destroyed, in addition to 240,000 housing units partially demolished. Thousands of governmental and private facilities, mosques, churches, hospitals, commercial shops, economic companies, and tourist facilities were also targeted, along with the confiscation of agricultural lands, with estimated economic losses of around 4 billion dollars, according to the assessment of the Businessmen Association and Chamber of Commerce, not to mention the systematic targeting of all municipal facilities and the municipal services, health, humanitarian, and environmental systems.
The health sector in Gaza is still in a critical condition due to the targeting of the Israeli army of hospitals, health centers, and all medical institutions. Twenty-eight hospitals and 55 health centers have been put out of service, subjected to shelling, invasion, destruction, siege, and forced evacuation of the wounded, patients, and medical teams, including hospitals such as Al-Shifa, Al-Quds, Nasser for Pediatric Care, Indonesian, Wafa for Elderly Care, and Rantisi Hospital. Several medical teams and paramedics have been arrested, and the ground invasions have divided Gaza into two parts, in addition to the intentional and comprehensive destruction of areas infiltrated by ground forces that followed the policy of scorched earth, settlement, and leveling civilian buildings with the ground.
The physical violations mentioned earlier indicate that the Israeli occupation forces have committed war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity. They deliberately targeted civilians with killing, injury, forced displacement, and disregarded both the general and specific protection for civilians, especially children and women, and civilian facilities and properties. This reflects the highest levels of state terrorism and the disregard for international law. In addition, retaliatory actions and collective punishment conflict with Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 regarding the protection of civilian persons in time of war. The Israeli aggression on Gaza aims to break the will of the Palestinian people, preventing them from continuing their just struggle for their national rights, independence, and the right to determine their destiny.
There is no legal basis for the Israeli occupation authorities to strangle more than two million and three hundred thousand Palestinians in the Gaza Strip within a large prison, preventing water, electricity, medical supplies, and humanitarian aid as collective punishment. This is considered a humanitarian crime that violates all international conventions and agreements, especially the principles of international humanitarian law and human rights conventions. Therefore, it confirms that the actions of the Israeli occupation constitute serious violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Conventions, and the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court, representing war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity in all their elements.
The International Commission “Hashd” ,expressing solidarity with the families of the victims, salutes the Palestinian people everywhere, especially in Gaza. It warmly welcomes the international solidarity movement with the Palestinian people, which continues to reject genocide and protest against the law of the jungle, adhering to human values and the principles of international law.
It emphasizes the urgent need to open humanitarian corridors, introduce life-saving fuel and equipment, and civil defense teams to evacuate the bodies of martyrs from under the rubble. It calls for ensuring the flow of humanitarian and relief aid to the population of Gaza, especially for forcibly displaced people, numbering around one million and seven hundred thousand, living in catastrophic conditions. Approximately a million of them live in shelters mostly run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), while the rest live in government schools, hospitals, churches, mosques, relatives’ houses, and friends’ houses.
It reaffirms the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and resistance against the occupier by all available means, recognized as a legitimate right under international law. It holds the Israeli occupation forces and the United States government, especially, as well as Britain, France, Germany, and Italy, fully responsible for the lives of Palestinians in Gaza and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories. It warns against the widening aggression and the worsening and collapse of humanitarian conditions in Gaza due to the continued closure of crossings and the regulation of aid entry.
It condemns the justifications of the occupation leaders, which are unfriendly, unrealistic, and come in the context of justifying genocide crimes and the law of the jungle in their warlike behavior towards civilians and their properties. Sometimes, they dehumanize the residents of Gaza, and other times they claim to target the infrastructure of resistance factions in their military operations. However, this is not true, as evidenced by the destruction of 60% of residential units, houses, and civilian structures, while entire residential areas were bombed and destroyed over the heads of their inhabitants.
Furthermore, the policy of scorched earth and collective killing is a clear violation of the principles of international humanitarian law. It also claims self-defense despite the lack of evidence of the right of defense for an occupying state against the legitimate self-defense of the Palestinians. It also claims to target fighters, a claim refuted and denied by field facts, as most victims of the Israeli aggression on Gaza are children, women, the elderly, civilians, and the targeting of families of members of Palestinian factions. These are also war crimes, killings outside the framework of the law, and prohibited collective punishment under international humanitarian law.
The International Commission “Hashd” appreciates all positions against Israeli genocide, war crimes, and terrorism. It condemns the state of official international silence and its inability to stop the Israeli occupation’s crimes and physical violations in Palestinian territories, casting doubt on the entire system of international work, law, and justice. It warns of the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza due to the continued scarcity of humanitarian aid, the closure of crossings, and the imposition of a suffocating siege affecting the lives of citizens and all their human rights.
The cutting off of electricity, water, and communication services has resulted in the destruction and damage of health and service facilities, leading to a catastrophic humanitarian disaster. In addition to the continuation of the war of starvation, thirst, and destruction against the population, the spread of diseases and health and environmental epidemics among the Gaza population has occurred. The Israeli occupation’s hindrance of the entry of medical, relief, and necessary equipment for the health sector, civil defense, and the prevention of the evacuation of patients and the wounded to hospitals in the West Bank and abroad, as well as the prevention of entry of foreign journalists and employees of international humanitarian organizations into Gaza.
Moreover, the continued prevention of the entry of the necessary fuel to operate the power plant to ensure the delivery of water to people, the operation of hospital generators, as well as the operation of desalination and sewage stations. It emphasizes the need to continue the popular and global uprising to stop genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the rest of the occupied territories. It believes that the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People is a renewed opportunity to highlight the suffering of Palestinians and draw the world’s attention to the ongoing and escalating humanitarian catastrophe due to the crimes of the Israeli occupation and the continued deprivation of Palestinians of their basic rights.
It is an occasion to strengthen efforts to stop aggression and restore Palestinian rights, foremost among them the right to self-determination, independence, and national sovereignty, with the right of return for refugees to their homes from which they were displaced in 1948, The International Commission “Hashd” Considers that Israeli actions, along with certain actions by some world countries to restrict the rights of human rights activists and those in solidarity with the rights of the Palestinian people, are a denial of international law and its established principles. It warns against the danger of the continued silence and incapacity of the international community to stop the crimes of genocide and Israeli atrocities committed against civilians and their civilian properties in the Gaza Strip, the citizens in the cities and villages of the West Bank, and the civilians in the city of Jerusalem and its environs. It also points to the crimes of racial discrimination in areas within the 1948 borders and the inability to hold the leaders of the occupation accountable for these crimes, as this implies a green light for the expansion of aggression and the threat of more casualties, continuing to jeopardize regional and international security and peace.
Therefore, it records and demands the following:
- The International Commission “Hashd” :Urges all those concerned with justice, humanity, human rights, and freedom advocates worldwide to organize various solidarity events to ensure turning this day into a global day for action and solidarity in all its forms. This is aimed at demanding that the free governments of the world force Israel to end the crimes of genocide, ethnic cleansing, forced displacement, racial discrimination, and persecution against the Palestinian people.
- The International Commission “Hashd” :Affirms that the international community is more than ever required to bear its legal and ethical responsibilities individually and collectively. This involves taking practical measures to enforce the resolutions of the UN Security Council and the General Assembly to stop the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, ensure the flow of humanitarian aid, medical supplies, relief, fuel shipments, and the evacuation of the wounded. It emphasizes the need to respect the principles and provisions of international law and justice to end the occupation and uphold the legitimate, non-negotiable rights of the Palestinian people, ensuring the transition of the international community from merely advocating Palestinian justice and expressing solidarity to fulfilling its responsibilities in ending the occupation and its practices through an internationally binding decision that ends the occupation and provides international protection for the Palestinian people.
- The International Commission “Hashd” :Asserts that the international community and the United Nations have a historical responsibility towards the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people, who have suffered serious crimes and violations by the state of Israeli occupation. It calls on them to take serious action to unify efforts through initiating a halt to the Israeli aggression and activating a process of accountability for the leaders and soldiers of the occupation before the International Criminal Court. This should be done using the principle of international jurisdiction, working to end the long-standing state of occupation, address the historical humanitarian suffering of the Palestinian people, and restore rights to their rightful owners.
- The International Commission “Hashd” :Emphasizes the necessity of coordinating the efforts of the free people of the world, including nations, institutions, unions, and political and popular movements, to exert pressure to save relevant UN resolutions on the rights of the Palestinian people. It calls for confronting the overt American support for the Israeli occupation and addressing the policy of double standards by European countries with a colonial background. The international community should stop the constant politicization of the rights of our Palestinian people.
- The International Commission “Hashd” :Calls on the Palestinian leadership to fulfill its legal, ethical, national duties, break the silence, stand alongside its people, cease relations with the occupying state, and countries supporting the aggression. It should withdraw recognition from the occupying state, internationalize the conflict, activate diplomatic and boycott paths, and accountability through the International Criminal Court and the principle of international jurisdiction. This includes activating the role of the Palestinian judiciary to ensure that Israeli criminals do not escape punishment. The leadership should work with the European Union, China, Russia, Arab and Islamic countries to stop the crimes of genocide and war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank and prevent forced displacement of Palestinians.
- The International Commission “Hashd” :Calls for declaring Gaza a disaster-stricken area and providing all necessary humanitarian and urgent health needs for the sector and victims of Israeli crimes. There should be swift action to build a Palestinian strategy based on restoring national unity. This duty, both patriotic and ethical, must be a priority and responsibility for all Palestinians. It calls for convening a meeting of the General Secretaries to form a collective national leadership until the reorganization and activation of all institutions of the political system, with the Palestine Liberation Organization at the forefront.
- The International Commission “Hashd” :Urges the world to cease all forms of relations and cooperation with the state of Israeli occupation, considering it a racist entity violating all human rights standards and relevant international legitimacy resolutions regarding the Palestinian issue. This should continue until it commits to human rights and the rights of the Palestinian people, and ends the long-term occupation.
- The International Commission “Hashd” :Calls on the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to include the crimes committed in the Gaza Strip in the file of Israeli crimes under investigation. It requests the issuance of arrest warrants against the perpetrators of genocide, ethnic cleansing, collective punishment, and the end of the policy of procrastination and double standards.
- The International Commission “Hashd” :Calls for the Permanent Fact-Finding Committee to open an investigation into the crimes of the occupation against civilians, especially children, women, journalists, medical teams, and civilian properties. This includes the prohibited use of the occupation’s military forces internationally.
- The International Commission “Hashd” :Calls on the international community to work diligently to open a humanitarian corridor to ensure the evacuation of the wounded, the passage of fuel, medical shipments, and the necessary equipment for civil defense. This is to facilitate the evacuation of the bodies of martyrs from under the rubble, enhance health and humanitarian services, and press the occupying state to restrict all its military actions within the principles and rules established in both the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 and the First Additional Protocol of 1977.
End
The International Commission to Support Palestinians Rights (Hashd)
