Confronting Genocide-Supporting States!

Confronting Genocide-Supporting States!

08/02/2024

Beirut: Associations, NGOs, civil society networks, and groups of activists organised a march under the title “Confronting Genocide-Supporting States! No to Israel’s Plan Against UNRWA”. The march began in front of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) headquarters in Hamra and proceeded to the British Embassy and the EU Mission in Zokak al-Blat. Waving Palestinian flags and supportive slogans alongside South African flags, participants chanted in anger, condemning the genocide in Gaza, saluting its martyrs, and rejecting silence and neutrality in the face of direct international complicity with Israel in the “genocide in Gaza and the rest of Palestine for almost four months.” They aimed to pressure the colonial states supporting the genocide in Gaza and aggression against Lebanon and the region, and to reject the ICRC’s acceptance of Israeli directives and the failure to protect our people in Gaza. The protestors also condemned the official Arab complicity and called for the translation of popular will into practical measures to stop the genocide and aggression.

According to a statement read by the demonstrators before the march began:

Confronting States and International Institutions Supporting Genocide in Gaza!

The United States, Britain, the European Union, and other Western countries have blatantly revealed their intersecting interests and ongoing colonial values, which are rooted in committing genocides against indigenous peoples, aligning with the interests and values of the colonial and racist Israeli occupation state. While these countries have not reassessed their colonial pasts, they continue not only to provide material and logistical support but also to directly participate in the ongoing genocide in Gaza for four months, and against the Palestinian people for 75 years, as a continuation of the Nakba of 1948, and the ongoing aggression against Lebanon and the region. These states have also ceased funding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the largest provider of humanitarian needs in Gaza during the genocide, and for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and the region, under the pretext of its lack of neutrality. This came a day after the International Court of Justice’s rulings, which included in its fourth clause the responsibility of the occupation to introduce humanitarian aid to prevent starvation.

These states, through their direct political and financial influence, have pressured the Red Cross in Gaza to continue complying with Israeli orders, standing idly by in the face of genocide. The ICRC evacuated northern Gaza immediately after 7 October, leaving people without medical support, failing to protect medical facilities and civilians. This encouraged Israel to escalate its genocide and attempt to eradicate our people from northern Gaza. They ignored the pleas of doctors and the Ministry of Health to save premature babies, directly contributing to their deaths. The ICRC did not publicly condemn the genocide or the prevention of visits to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. While it previously made more than six public statements condemning Israel’s violations of international humanitarian law, it did not intervene to save lives under the rubble, leading to thousands of deaths, including Red Cross staff. Conversely, it showed significant concern for Israeli prisoners of war, indicating its lack of neutrality and double standards.

The ICRC is demanded to:

  • Return to northern Gaza and all areas of Gaza.
  • Fulfil its usual duties during wars, protecting health facilities and civilians under occupation.
  • Open an international investigation into the ICRC’s performance during the genocide in Gaza, scrutinise its neutrality, and its complicity with Israeli policies and their allies.
  • Change its management in Geneva and ensure its independence and neutrality from states and their funding, being globally independent and not affiliated with centres in the North allied with Israel.
  • Develop a binding and transparent international mechanism for immediate investigation through the International Court of Justice in case of attacks on the Red Cross in any war.

We call on Lebanon and Arab countries, each according to their position, to take serious practical steps and measures to pressure for an end to the war and genocide in Gaza, which also involves stopping it in Lebanon and the region, withdrawing ambassadors, declaring disengagement from normalisation, and confronting complicit Western states to pressure their ally, Israel. We also demand serious work and intervention to lift the siege on Gaza (and Palestinian refugees in general), confront attempts to subjugate UNRWA to the demands of the Zionist entity, remove colonial occupation forces from the region, and use all available means, particularly oil, gas, and the economy, to revoke the licenses of companies and institutions supporting Israel, and leverage the strategic location to refuse the passage of any goods to the Israeli occupation state, closing all maritime, aerial, and land routes to it.

Finally, we salute all the roaring popular voices in the region and the world, which continue their weekly marches and activities to pressure their states, primarily the United States and the European Union, to stop the genocide in Gaza. This international solidarity is a cornerstone of the resistance against global colonialism.

While Palestinian resistance remains the primary force against the Israeli coloniser, it must be supported by surrounding resistances and by crystallising popular wills for liberation in the region. When these are not repressed and translated into interconnected practical steps, they can deter Israeli massacres and genocide.

Long live a free Arab Palestine.