Letters to the editor

I am writing to respond to Gareth Narunsky’s opinion piece (Come on, Irene), published in City News on the 15th of April, about comments I made in relation to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I understand that this is an issue that has the potential to spark a great deal of passion and I therefore thank Gareth for the polite and well reasoned manner in which he has approached the debate and also for the support he has given to my work on Council.

Mr Narunsky may indeed be correct in his assertion that the human rights abuses that took place in apartheid South Africa were worse than those that have taken place in Palestine. I have not attempted to quantify the respective levels of suffering of the oppressed people in both places, but I stand by the fact that both are shocking examples of widespread human rights abuses. I also compared the two situations because of the different ways they have played out on the world stage. The abuses that took place in South Africa under apartheid were widely acknowledged by the international community, the world rallied against them and this bought about positive change. The plight of Palestine on the other hand attracts very little mainstream attention, as the lack of media coverage of Sameh Habeeb’s tour demonstrates. Without widespread understanding of the issues in the global community it is hard to see how the situation for the Palestinian people will improve and it is for this reason that I take every opportunity I can to raise the issue in the media, despite it being far removed from my usual role as a City of Sydney Councillor.

While I acknowledge that the government of Palestine has often not acted in the best interests of its people or the peace of the region this does not excuse Israel’s heavy handed actions in response. The “security barrier” – a fence that runs along the entire land border of the Gaza Strip penning its people in – is just one such example. Ostensibly to protect Israel from terrorist attacks Palestinians are not permitted to cross the fence into Israel without permits, even if they have a medical condition that the sub-standard facilities in Gaza can’t treat. The number of permits issued for this purpose has gradually declined since 2007, meaning at least 26 people have died and many more have suffered unnecessarily as a result of illnesses that should be easily treatable in the 21st century.

Mr Narunsky quotes a number of sources claiming that Israel has taken extensive steps to prevent civilian causalities in its attacks on Palestine. Sadly these measures have been ineffective as large numbers of civilians continue to die. Israel claims that they fire on schools, hospitals and apartment blocks because they are used as launching points for Hamas attacks. However as Gaza is one of the most densely populated areas on Earth, with 1.5 million people living in an area roughly 41km long by 9km wide, it is hard to see how any resistance to the Israeli occupation could be launched far from civilian infrastructure. The fact that Israel uses indiscriminate weapons such as white phosphorous bombs – which spread highly flammable material across a large area – makes it particularly hard to avoid harming civilians in such a densely populated area. There have just been far too many cases of Israeli attacks destroying buildings that are completely demilitarised, including schools and refuges set up by UN officials able to vouch for the civilian status of the facility. The cost of these misguided attacks is measured in innocent lives.

Furthermore, counter strikes against attacks from within Palestine are not the only means by which Palestinian civilians are killed by the Israeli military. As recently as March this year two Palestinian teenagers were killed by Israeli soldiers when they were shot by snipers during a weekly protest against the security fence. The first boy was shot because he was throwing stones – a quite common occurrence in protests such as this where tempers are pushed to breaking point. While most of us would baulk at the idea of professional soldiers using sniper rifles on stone throwing children the circumstances surrounding the second boy’s death are even more inexcusable – he was shot whilst attempting to carry the other wounded boy to safety. The Israeli military claim they did not use live bullets but the medics who tried desperately to save the boys say that their injuries could not have been caused by anything else and from the graphic photos I’ve seen I have to agree.

There is much more I could say about the horror that is life in Palestine under Israeli occupation, however I hope from the points I have made here that it is clear that something must be done. This is why I and the many other supporters of Palestine in Australia and around the world feel the way we do. I will be continuing to encourage the boycott of Israeli products in order to play my small part in raising global awareness of the situation in Israel. For the same reason, I am grateful to this publication for allowing Mr Narunsky and myself to have this public dialogue and allow those members of the community not previously exposed to the issue to form an opinion. It was the rest of the world standing up to tell the government of apartheid era South Africa that its actions were unacceptable that finally bought about change in that nation. Perhaps when the international community starts holding Israel to account for its actions in a similar fashion the citizens on both sides of this conflict will be able to start rebuilding their shattered lives and we will all be able to think of Israel as a nation of innovation, as Mr Narunsky does, rather than simply a place of conflict.

Regards
Councillor Irene Doutney – The Greens
City of Sydney Council