Here is a draft text for this statement. I think
this would work better on an opt-in basis with a minimum of 12
signatures before it is sent. It would not come from an official
organisation, either the network of the BPS section since this
will take too long to get some kind of representative agreement
from members.
I propose that we use Thursday 18th for amendments - these can be
suggested via this email list by 21.00hrs.
Then we have Friday to get signatures with a view to sending it
out by 21.00 Friday.
I am happy to handle the first part of the process but will be
away from Friday p.m so suggest someone else puts the signatory
list together.
Finally I have drafted it rather like a press release. I sugest
it is sent to the 4 "quality dailies" and the Morning Star, is
posted on the CPUK libpsy.org and other websites and circulated
via our networks.
And we must send it to the main organisations concerned with
palestinian solidarity MAP and PSC as a minimum and those contacts
we have in Palestine.
Mark Burton
Statement
of
support and solidarity with the people of Gaza, July, 2014.
As
Community Psychologists in the UK we
again extend our
support for and solidarity to the people of Gaza. We are calling
upon
the British government and the British people to take all
feasible
steps, beginning with immediate boycotts, divestments and
sanctions
against the state of Israel, to oblige Israel's political
administration to: abide by international law; dismantle its
apartheid regime spanning both the occupied territories and
Israel;
immediately and unconditionally end its assault on and
seige of Gaza; end the occupation of the
West
Bank and East Jerusalem,
including its illegal settlements;
abandon all claims to possess or control territory beyond its
1967
borders; and commit to pursuing a long-lasting, just peace.
We
condemn all attacks on civilians, including the rocket
retaliation
from Gaza, noting that combatants have an
obligation to protect civilians under international law. However
we
draw attention to the disproportionality
of
Israel's attacks on Gaza, which includes the indiscriminate
killing
of men, women and children by the armed
forces of
a supposedly democratic State whose citizens they still are
(since
only limited autonomy has been granted to the Palestine
Authority).
We are concerned by reports from doctors
that
DIME munitions are again in
use which cause extremely destructive damage to
the bodies of those near the blast. The
Israeli military
deliberately
targets hospitals, civilian shelters and prevents medical aid
reaching the injured and medical supplies and equipment from
entering
the Gaza Strip and destroys Gaza's infrastructure of roads,
water
supplies, sanitation, food production, food distribution, food
security, electricity, social services, education services,
health
services, law and order, housing, environmental services, and
broader
social support structures. We
particularly note
that during armed conflict, international
humanitarian law requires that
health care facilities, ambulances, medical personnel and the
wounded
and sick are all afforded specific protection.
As
psychologists we also draw attention to the impact of this and
other
attacks on Palestinians on the psychological and social health
and
well-being of all sections of the population, particularly
children,
the elderly and those with additional vulnerabilities. The
extreme
constraints placed on the Palestinian
health services, UNWRA and the various NGOs and civil society
organisations can only make this situation far worse, despite
the
admirable and inspiring capacity of the Palestinian people to
maintain and celebrate their cultural traditions.
The
massacre of civilians in Gaza is the latest, terrorist
phase of a war that successive governments of Israel (supported
by
the USA and Britain) have been waging against the people of
Palestine
for more than 60 years, since Britain's
botched
abandonment of its mandate triggered the Palestinian Nakba of
1948.
The goal of this war has never changed: to use overwhelming
military
power to eradicate the Palestinians as a political force capable
of
resisting Israel's ongoing appropriation of Palestinian land and
resources. CPUK believes that for the sake of justice and global
peace, the Israeli
State must
not be allowed to achieve this. Our belief in the right of the
Palestinians to democratic self-determination, and to resist
military
aggression and colonial occupation means
we stand
with the people of Palestine, whether in Gaza, the West Bank,
occupied Jerusalem
or the
(pre-1967) boundaries of the State of Israel in their struggle
against
that racist, colonial State and its government.
Additional
notes
The
blockade means a severe
shortage
of
medicines and other vital supplies. Before
the current attack the Gaza health services were already suffering
from an acute shortage of fuel and supplies, with 54 percent of
medical disposables and 28 percent of essential drugs at zero
stock. Now some
hospitals are reporting that they do not have sutures,
materials to
treat bone injuries, or enough reactive agents to perform
routine
blood tests. On 15 July 41 organizations warned of an
extremely
severe Palestinian health sector crisis, with, in Gaza's
hospitals
the cessation of most
primary services
and women's
health services.
80%
of Gaza's population are refugees or their descendants.
The
Gaza population of 1.7 Million is confined
in a small area, no
bigger than the Isle of Wight. There is no escape from the
missiles
and naval bombardment, nor the frequent army incursions. There
is
clear evidence (for
example BBC Radio 4 reports, 17 July) that
Israel's claim to warn civilians of missile attacks is
meaningless. Unlike Israel, the Palestinians do not have air
raid shelters.
Signatories
--
From: Mark Burton
Scholar-Activist.
Visiting Professor,
Manchester Metropolitan University
37 Chandos
Rd South
Chorlton
Manchester
M21 0TH; UK
Telephones:
+44 (0)161 881 6887
landline
+44 (0)777 594 9479 mobile
skype name: markburton52
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