The charity Save the Children said on Sunday that “the number of children reported killed in Gaza in just three weeks has surpassed the annual number of children killed across the world’s conflict zones since 2019.”
JOHN DUGARD, john@dugard.nl
Emeritus professor of law at the Universities of Leiden (Netherlands) and the Witwatersrand (South Africa), Dugard is former UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights Situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
He said today: “The war against Gaza must be seen in the context of the brutal occupation of Palestine, comprising the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.
“For 56 years Israel has administered Palestine as a military Occupying Power. This prolonged occupation has been accompanied by unlawful annexation of territory and characterised by a denial of self-determination, repression, discrimination and apartheid. The present war is a product of this occupation which the Western Powers have condoned and quietly supported. Of course this violates international law but the West exempts Israel from compliance with international law.
“In February 2024 the International Court of Justice will pronounce on the legality of this occupation. Hopefully this will pave the way for a new dispensation from which an independent Palestinian State will emerge. Until then the world will watch Israel’s assault with mixed feelings. Western Powers like U.S., U.K., Germany, Canada, France, Netherlands and Italy, which all share a colonial past in which they behaved like Israel towards their indigenous peoples, will block attempts to stop the conflict and will continue to support Israel’s genocidal war. The Rest of the World will watch in despair as Palestinians are either slaughtered by Israel or starved to death. They will ask in disbelief what has happened to international law. Honesty would oblige the West to say that they regard Israel as above international law. But honesty, like compassion, are not known to many Western Powers.”