Ref: 34/2014
In the conclusion of his visit to Japan, on Monday,
20 October 2014, Mr. Raji Sourani, Director of the Palestinian Centre for Human
Rights (PCHR held a Press conference in Japan National Press Club (JNPC)
(Journalists Syndicate), which was facilitated by Mr. Yasoushi, JNPC Secretary-General. Around 40 Japanese journalists representing major
Japanese televisions and newspapers and prominent journalists specialized in
the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and Middle East issues attended the conference.
In the beginning of the conference, Sourani
made a 40-minute presentation on the latest Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip
and the unprecedented crimes committed by the Israeli forces, including the
complete destruction of neighborhoods and populated areas, such as
al-Shija’iyah neighborhood, Khuza’a village and Beit Hanoun town, over the
heads of their residents. He also
addressed the annihilation of complete families, such as the families of al-Najjar,
Kaware’, al-Batsh, Hamad, al-Helo and others, as well as targeting schools used
as shelters for the civilians who left their houses that had been attacked as
well. He also talked about targeting
hospitals and medical crews, the destruction of sewage plants and the only
power plant in the Gaza Strip and other war crimes committed against civilians.
Sourani also talked about the use of the Hannibal
Directive and Dahiya Doctrine by the Israeli forces, more than once and in more
than one place, which resulted in destruction and killing of large numbers of
civilians. Sourani stressed that for the
first time since the Palestinian Nakbah (the uprooting of the
Palestinian people from their lands in 1948), around 540,000 Palestinians had
found themselves refugees and without shelters in Gaza due to the Israeli
offensive and destruction of their houses in addition to being exposed to
extreme dangers. He added that 40,000
houses were destroyed, of which 10,000 were completely destroyed, during the Israeli
offensive on Gaza. Sourani said that the
latest offensive on the Gaza Strip targeted civilians in the first place and
that the majority its victims were civilians; more than 2,200 Palestinians were
killed, around 81% whom were civilians, including 543 children and 322 women,
and more than 10,000 persons were injured, including 3,000 ones who sustained
permanent disabilities. He emphasized
that Israel would not have dared doing so unless it was sure that it would go
unpunished and would not be held accountable by the international community for
the crimes it committed.
During his speech, Sourani emphasized the right
of the Palestinian people to resist occupation, which commits war crimes and
crimes against humanity. He also said
that it is unacceptable to request the Palestinian people to be good victims of
occupation. He added that the
Palestinian people support their valiant resistance, and Gaza with its heroism,
steadfastness and sacrifice is a model to be emulated in defending human
dignity and a new and qualitative page that must be proudly added to the record
of the Palestinian national struggle.
In the same context, Sourni noted that the
latest offensive on Gaza was the third of its kind in 6 years and it came in
the context of a more serious and wider crime, which is the closure that has
been imposed on the Gaza Strip for 7 years.
This inhumane, immoral and illegal closure, which constitutes a form of
collective punishment against around 2 million civilians, has paralyzed the
economic life and created unprecedented backwardness in the Gaza Strip. He emphasized that this closure is a crime
that must be stopped immediately, and talking about the reconstruction of the
Gaza Strip is an illusion unless the closure is completely lifted, including allowing
the freedom of movement for persons and goods between the Gaza Strip and the
West Bank, including Jerusalem on one hand, and between the occupied
Palestinian territory and outside world on the other hand. Sourani criticized the latest agreement,
which was pronounced by Robert Serry, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle
East Peace Process, signed between each of the UN, Israel and Palestinian
Authority in New York and considered it as a form of institutionalism of the
closure imposed on the Gaza Strip.
Sourani also emphasized that the human rights
organizations have legally documented each war crime and crimes against
humanity committed by Israel, and that they will seek to prosecute Israeli war
criminals all over the world in loyalty for the pains, blood and souls of
children and women. He added that it is
the victims’ and their families’ right that President Mahmoud ‘Abbas must ratify
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and the United States and
Europe should stop pressurizing the Palestinian leadership to refrain from
ratifying it. He stressed that holding
Israel accountable for its crimes is the only way to deter it and ensure the
non-recurrence of such crimes. He also
said that the international community has an obligation to provide protection
for the Palestinian people from the oppression of the occupation and the law of
jungles.
Sourani said that on the 20th
anniversary of signing the Oslo Accords, which aimed to establish a Palestinian
State in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the Palestinian cause has reached its
worst situation since the Nakbah, and this deterioration comes under the
title of ‘peace’. The situation of the
Gaza Strip is catastrophic under an unjust closure that has been imposed for 7
years and 3 aggressive wars, while Jerusalem suffers ethnic cleansing against
Palestinians, persistent efforts to create a Jewish demographic majority and
changing the features of the city, and the West Bank suffers a new
unprecedented type of apartheid.
Sourani said that although 10 years has passed since
the International Court of Justice issued its Advisory Opinion on the annexation
wall, which considered the construction of the wall and called for its
dismantlement, Israel is about to complete its construction. Moreover, it all happens because the position
of the United States and the whole world towards this conflict in specific is
to sacrifice the international law and international humanitarian law allegedly
for the sake of achieving peace and security.
He added that this is the harvest of application of double standards and
the law of jungles.
Sourani also addressed the Palestinian internal
situation pointing out that the Palestinian political division constitutes
political suicide, and no one benefits from it but Israel as it is strategically
weakens Palestinians, and constitutes an excuse for Israel to continue
isolating the West Bank from the Gaza Strip, in addition to claiming non-existence
of a leader of the Palestinian political regime to represent it. He emphasized that Israel is the one that
obstructs the existence of a united Palestinian government. He also added that all division supporters on
the Palestinian level will be one day dumped into the dustbin of history.
In the conclusion of his speech, Sourani
stressed that Israel does not have any intentions for peace as they killed
‘Arafat and continue to establish settlements, confiscate lands, destroy
houses, impose a closure on the Gaza Strip, and practice ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem,
change its features and even attempt to seize al-Aqsa Mosque. Moreover, they have established the wall in
the West Bank and waged 3 aggressive wars against the Gaza Strip. Israel is the
only state that does not have borders and is a racist state par excellence.
This conference was held at the conclusion of Sourani’s
visit to Japan (8 – 21 October 2014). He was co-invited to visit Japan by Professor
Egy Najasawa from Tokyo University, Kamakoura, a director at NHK TV channel,
and Dowi Toshikino, a filmmaker specialized in the Palestinian cause. During
this visit, he conducted a series of meetings and lectures in Tokyo, Kyoto,
Hiroshima, and Fukushima. Sourani lectured on two consecutive days in Tokyo
University before a large audience of academics, experts, lawyers, solidarity
activists, and journalists. The lectures were introduced by Prof. Najsawa Origy,
from Tokyo University. They were preceded by two films, one is about the latest
war and the targeting of civilians and the other one is about the closure
imposed on the Gaza Strip prepared by Dowi Toshikino, a historian and
filmmaker.
Prof. Mary Okeh, a writer and specialist in in Arabic
language, hosted a meeting with Sourani in Kyoto University, which was attended
and a large audience of Japanese and Arabs. It should be noted that Prof Mary
Okeh translated the full works of Ghassan Kanafani.
In Hiroshima, Sourani visited the Hiroshima
Peace Memorial Park where he met with four survivors of the nuclear attack and listened
to their stories. They showed great sympathy towards the Palestinians and
condemned Israeli attacks against them.
Sourani also visited Hiroshima University where
he met with its president who is an expert in Middle Eastern affairs and delivered
a lecture before a large audience of professors and students.
Upon returning to Tokyo, Sourani met with the
director general of the Middle East Department in the Japanese Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and informed him of the latest developments related to the
Palestinian cause and human rights conditions in the light of the last
offensive of the Gaza Strip. Moreover, Sourani asserted that international
donors are not an insurance policy for Israeli crimes. Prof. Egy Najasawa and
Dowi Toshikino attended the meeting.
Furthermore, Sourani was interviewed by NHK TV
network which recorded a debate between him and an Asian thinker Prof Suh*. The
debate was administered by the famous director Kamakura. The debate focused on
the latest Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip. Sourani explained the situation
as it is on ground and the western complicit position towards the people of
Palestine. He also highlighted the international laws in this regard and the positions
of peoples of the world communities, which demonstrated in solidarity with the
Palestinians, especially the peoples and governments of Latin America.
Additionally, Sourani stressed the optimism and strength of the people of
Palestine despite the obvious imbalance of forces.
Sourani had visited Beirut before heading to
Japan as he was invited by Dr. Rami Khouri, director of Isam Faras Institute
for Research and International Policies in the American University. He
participated in a conference about the latest Israeli offensive against the
Gaza Strip, accountability for war crimes committed against civilians and the
need to lift the Israeli closure imposed on the Gaza Strip tin order to start
Gaza’s reconstruction. Sourani made the opening speech which laid the ground
for discussion throughout the conference. The conference was attended by
Commissioner-General of UNRWA Pierre Krähenbühl and the former
Commissioner-General of UNRWA Filippo Grandi, and many American, European, and
Palestinian lawyers and academics.
Additionally, Sourani met with Dr. Kamel Mohanna,
Director of Amel
Association International, Mr. Ziad Abdel
Samad, Director of the Arab NGO Network for Development , Dr. Saman Abu Sitta,
Islah Islah, and Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta.
* To watch the full interview please contact: mailto:refugeesa@gmail.com
