Richard Silverstein: It is a sensitive subject, but the movement for Gaza
accountability needs full Jewish participation
American Jewish groups must speak up over Gaza
Monday 20 April 2009 09.00 BST
When Israeli forces left Gaza in January, they left behind 1,400 Palestinian
dead, 4,000 homes destroyed, universities and government buildings flattened,
and tens of thousands homeless. The Israeli and world press documented IDF
atrocities including the indiscriminate use of white phosphorus in densely
populated urban areas, the assault on United Nations humanitarian facilities,
the shelling of civilian homes, and the shooting in cold blood of unarmed
civilians.
Israeli human rights groups have called for war crimes investigations of IDF
actions. In the last few weeks, on-the-ground reports supported by eyewitness
testimony have become available. They paint an even more damning picture. The
attacks on UN facilities spurred the Palestinian Authority to call for a
security council investigation. Officials announced they are investigating
whether the international body has jurisdiction, but it seems likely that US
opposition will doom such an avenue of redress.
The UN human rights council has just appointed a distinguished jurist, Richard
Goldstone, to head an investigation of both IDF and Palestinian actions in
Gaza. The council made a wise choice in Goldstone, who served as chief
prosecutor of the international criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia
and Rwanda: he has an impeccable record in his field and can be expected to
issue a fair, balanced and thorough report.
Last week, Judge Balthazar Garzon announced the investigation of six Bush-era
officials for devising a scheme that justified torture of terror suspects. With
this development, it became clear there was a new method to hold violators
accountable for their alleged crimes, and I am certain activists are already
preparing dossiers for submission. Earlier this month, an international
assemblage of individuals announced the formation of the Russell tribunal on
Palestine. Modelled on the Russell tribunal on war crimes in Vietnam, and named
after philosopher and peace campaigner Bertrand Russell, it aims to bring to
bear international law as a force for adjudicating and resolving the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The tribunal will hear a legal case prepared by
volunteer experts from around the world. A jury of respected individuals will
hear evidence from both sides and announce its finding of guilt or innocence to
the world.
There is one important consideration that should encourage Israel to
participate. If it truly believes Palestinian rocket attacks constitute war
crimes, then it should vigorously make this point. The tribunal has already
taken pains to point out that this is a part of its mandate: "Do the means of
resistance used by the Palestinians violate international law?" However, I
would imagine that Israel will not participate.
While Israel's savage assault against Hezbollah in Lebanon during the 2006 war
generated an uproar, one wonders whether the massacres that occurred in Gaza
crossed a moral threshhold. Can an effort to end Israeli impunity have real
impact, both in terms of influencing world opinion and of impacting on Israeli
behaviour? Israel has become an expert at wearing down its opponents, honing
such skills during 40 years of occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. The
question is: what, if anything, can the peace community do differently this
time?
Each time the world witnesses another humanitarian tragedy resulting from
Israeli military action, the outcry is louder. For example, the UN has never
before entertained the possibility of investigating Israeli war crimes. The EU
has informally made known that it intends to freeze a planned upgrade in
relations with Israel and cancel of visit of Israel's prime minister as an
indirect result. American universities such as Hampshire College and church
denominations such as the Presbyterians contemplate ever more seriously the
issue of divestment. Gaza crossed a red line. Now, new methods of protest and
new means of ensuring accountability must be devised.
Horrors such as the Gaza war also breathe new life into movements like the
Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions initiative. Recently, Naomi Klein and Rabbi
Arthur Waskow engaged in a provocative debate at In These Times about BDS. The
Gaza war made Klein a believer. Recently, Rabbi Brant Rosen wrote words that
many in the American Jewish community might find heretical, that BDS could be a
legitimate expression "of a weaker, dispossessed, disempowered people".
There can be no doubt that horrors such as Gaza serve as moral ice-breakers in
the psyche of diaspora Jews. Ideas that hitherto might have been taboo or
"anti-Israel" become suddenly legitimate. As Israel drifts farther to the
right, American Jews are challenged to respond morally. In this context, the
forbidden becomes acceptable. Boycotts, divestment, sactions and war crimes
investigations now appear tools through which to try to draw Israel back from
the brink.
No major American-Jewish peace group has called for a Gaza war crimes
investigation. It is a sensitive subject among diaspora Jews. But if Israeli
human rights organisations can make such a call, there is no reason why
Americans should be afraid to do so. The movement for Gaza accountability needs
full Jewish participation.
My motivation in writing this is not to avenge the deaths of innocent
Palestinians. Nor is it for pure justice. It is rather to bring Israel back
from the brink. Like one of the slogans of the Israeli military during the Gaza
war – "baal habayit hishtageya" ("the boss has lost it") – Israel's policy has
verged on madness. Nor has it achieved its objective of pacifying Gaza or
toppling Hamas. And isn't one of the definitions of madness to repeat a
behaviour even after it has failed, with the conviction that it will succeed
the next time? When you see a loved one or family member descending into
self-destruction, you reach out and help. My goal is to turn Israel away from
the path of madness.
