Israel/Palestine: Stop the collective punishment of civilians in Gaza

Copenhagen, 25 January 2008 The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights
Network (including Greek Helsinki Monitor) strongly condemns the
decision by the Israeli government to cut off vital supplies of
electricity and fuel as well as essential foodstuffs, medicines and
other humanitarian supplies to the civilian population of Gaza.

Since Friday 18 January, Israel has closed all Gaza's border crossing
points and blocked all humanitarian aid, except for emergency cases.
With some 80 percent of Gaza's population requiring food aid, the
impact of these measures will be catastrophic. This escalation has
also been accompanied by an intensifying of Israeli military attacks
on the Gaza Strip in the first 19 days of 2008, costing the lives of
69 Palestinians, including four children and eight women, and the
injury of over 190.

Israeli military forces continue to launch indiscriminate attacks on
densely populated areas of Gaza Strip, where it is impossible to
distinguish between civilians and military objects. This
disproportional use of force puts the lives of Palestinian civilians
at high risk.

Israel's current policy in relation to the Gaza Strip and its 1.5
million inhabitants constitutes a violation of international
humanitarian law including Israel's obligation as an Occupying Power
to ensure, at a minimum, the basic needs of the population under its
effective control, and the prohibition on collective punishment
contained in the Fourth Geneva Convention.

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network

* Recalls that the root cause to the current situation is
Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories which is illegal
according to UN Security Council resolutions.

* Condemns the closure of Gaza; the toppling of the fence at
the Egyptian border implies no release of Israel from its
responsibilities as an occupying power.

* Calls upon Israel to cease immediately any military action
endangering the life of the civil populations inside the Gaza Strip.

* Calls upon the Hamas, which controls the Palestinian
institutions in the Gaza Strip, to put an end to the shootings of
rockets against the Israeli civilians

* Urges the Egyptian government to keep the border open

* Demands from the parties of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
to strictly observe the regulations of the international law and the
international humanitarian law.

* Calls upon the international community and the EU member
states to fully comply with their obligations of safeguarding
international human rights standards and international humanitarian law.

* Calls upon EU to take concrete measures to ensure Israel's
compliance with international law, including international
humanitarian law and relevant EU guidelines.