Israel Should Face Sanctions
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-The Palestine Crisis Is Now More Dramatic Ever Than Apartheid, But It is The Victims Who Are Punished-

Courtesy Of: The Guardian
By Ronnie Kasrils and Victoria Brittain
Friday May 19, 2006

Western leaders are frustrating democratic elections in Palestine by withholding aid, and using collective punishment, an economic siege and starvation as political weapons in their efforts to get the Hamas government to accept their terms of business with Isral.

...Today Western moral authority in the Middle East is gone, as much because of years of double standards in Palestine as because of the current disastrous war on Iraq.

There is no excuse for not knowing the truth about what is now happening to the Palestinians. And the most recent diplomatic moves by the Quartet--the US, the EU, the UN and Russia--To alleviate suffering, while keeping up the ban on dealing with the Palestinians' elected leaders, are totally inadequate.

...The root problem is the intensifying Israeli occupation of Palestinian land...

...The Palestinians are having sanctions imposed on them for their political choice. But it is Israel, creating new facts on the ground to prevent the emergence of a viable Palestinian State, that should be facing UN sanctions.

The UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, should use his last months in office to call for sanctions to bring about the implementation of the ICJ ruling on the Israeli Wall, the closure of West Bank settlements and the release of Palestinian political prisoners.

And those who care for Freedom, Peace and Justice must build a global Palestiine Solidarity Movement to match the anti-Apartheid Movement of the 1980s.

Note:

1. Ronnie Kasrils was head of Intelligence in the African National Congress's Armed Wing and is now South Africa's Intelligence Minister, he is writing in a personal capacity.

2. Victoria Brittain is co-author with Moazzam Begg of Enemy Combatant.

You can read the complete article at:
http://guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1778549,00.html