Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of the Netherlands: Condemn the slaughtering of innocent Gazans
In line with the courageous publication of our colleagues from Italy, the United Kingdom and Norway on the 23rd of July 2014 (1), we wish to put forth the following statement in support of the people of Gaza:
Many years of socioeconomic isolation and repression have now culminated in what is the third massive military strike against the defenseless people of Gaza since 2008.
Manduca et al. urge to denounce this excessive Israeli military aggression which by now has cost the lives of thousands of Palestinian civilians in Gaza(1). Unconditionally, we deeply regret all civilian casualties on both Palestinian and Israeli sides.
However, the numbers of civilian casualties are by far out of proportion: with 3 civilian deaths on Israeli side against over 1817 killed and over 10.000 wounded Palestinian civilians (as of August 4th; as many Palestinian civilians are still buried under ruined buildings, these figures are surely to be dire underestimations.)
This massively disproportionate onslaught has resulted in a distressing humanitarian crisis in Gaza which is worsening by the minute. As physicians, and even humans for that matter, we cannot but whole-heartedly condemn the use of unremitting and excessive military force against the entrapped and defenseless civilians of Gaza.
We greatly appreciate the courage of The Lancet to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza by publishing such a critical, but veracious letter and thereby initiating an ethical discussion on the subject in the medical community(2).
We strongly disagree with critics claiming that a medical journal is not the right stage for this discussion. War, occupation, socioeconomic isolation and repression have devastating effects on the health and wellbeing of people which deserve the attention of physicians worldwide. Supporting the immediate cessation of hostilities on both sides is perfectly in line with our moral obligation as physicians as we are committed to the improvement of the health and wellbeing of people all over the world.
Meanwhile in Gaza, hospitals, schools, and other safe havens are being wiped off the map. The pretense that these safe havens are used by Hamas militants has repeatedly been proven to be untrue, but is nevertheless constantly used as a cover for coldblooded onslaught of innocent civilians. UNRWA schools have been ferociously attacked for the third consecutive time, killing scores of women and children, despite the fact that the locoregional coordinates had been communicated to the IDF at least 17 times(3,4).
The large numbers of murdered children and women form the strongest evidence for the indiscriminate, arbitrary and deliberate aggression of the Israeli forces, which is unfortunately hard to differentiate from systematically organized terrorism, aiming to inflict as much pain and grieve on the people of Gaza.
The medical community cannot watch and wait in vain any longer while innocent and defenseless Palestinian civilians are massacred and actively deprived of medical care by targeted attacks on hospitals, medical staff and their scarce equipment and resources.
The time has come to collectively condemn and oppose this agonizing onslaught. Major revolutions such as the abolishment of slavery, the dismantlement of apartheid in South-Africa and the decolonization of India incited by Ghandi’s struggle, all resulted from global public awareness and peaceful civilian resistance. Therefore, we hope to speak on behalf of the whole medical community when we say that we demand not only an immediate cessation of all military aggression against innocent civilians in Gaza. Furthermore, recognizing the fundamental cause in this issue, i.e. the under international law illegal and ongoing occupation of Palestine land, we demand to lift the 8-year during siege on Gaza and to end the occupation!
1. Manduca P, et al. An open letter for the people in Gaza. The Lancet, 23 July 2014, doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(14)61044-8
2. Gaza: an urgent call to protect civilian life and health. Editorial. The Lancet, 1 August 2014,doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(14)61297-6
3. Gulf Times, 24 July 2014, http://www.gulf-times.com/Mobile/Region/216/details/401669/Baby-among-15-dead-as-Israel-shell-hits-UN-school-in-Gaza
4. The Guardian, 30 July 2014, http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2014/jul/30/gaza-another-un-school-hit-in-further-night-of-fierce-bombardment