The march will be held on January 1, 2010 in Gaza calling for the lifting of the siege on Gaza.
FFIPP will conduct an educational campaign on Gaza on campuses in North America and Europe and work with CODEPINK to get 100 students to the march.
Please contact us if you want to organize a Gaza event on your campus. FFIPP can arrange for speakers to be at your event.
For more information on the Gaza Freedom March see: CODEPINK
Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict by Richard Goldstone
Excerpts:
The Mission concludes that the conditions resulting from deliberate actions of the Israeli forces and the declared policies of the Government with regard to the Gaza Strip before, during and after the military operation cumulatively indicate the intention to inflict collective punishment on the people of the Gaza Strip. The mission, therefore, finds a violation of the provisions of Articles 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
From the facts gathered, the Mission found that the following grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention were committed by Israeli forces in Gaza: wilful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, and extensive destruction of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly. As grave breaches these acts give rise to individual criminal responsibility.
The Mission further considers that the series of acts that deprive Palestinians in the Gaza Strip of their means of subsistence, employment, housing and water, that deny their freedom of movement and their right to leave and enter their own country, that limit their rights to access a court of law and an effective remedy, could lead a competent court to find that the crime of persecution, a crime against humanity, has been committed.
In relation to the firing of rockets and mortars into Southern Israel by Palestinian armed groups operating in the Gaza Strip, the Mission finds that the Palestinian armed groups fail to distinguish between military targets and the civilian population and civilian objects in Southern Israel. The launching of rockets and mortars which cannot be aimed with sufficient precisions at military targets breaches the fundamental principle of distinction. Where there is no intended military target and the rockets and mortars are launched into civilian areas, they constitute a deliberate attack against the civilian population. These actions would constitute war crimes and may amount to crimes against humanity.
Why The Goldstone Report Matters
By Professor Richard Falk, 9/19/2009
Excerpt from the article:
"No credible international commission could reach any set of conclusions other than those reached by the Goldstone Report on the central allegations."
" The report recommends strongly that if Israel and Hamas do not themselves within six months engage in an investigation and followup action meeting international standards of objectivity with respect to these violations of the law of war, then the Security Council should be brought into the picture, being encouraged to consider referring the whole issue of Israeli and Hamas accountability to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague. "
"A fourth reason for Israeli worry stemming from the report, is the green light given to national courts throughout the world to enforce international criminal law against Israelis suspects should they travel abroad and be detained for prosecution or extradition in some third country. "
"The report is an historic contribution to the Palestinian struggle for justice, an impeccable documentation of a crucial chapter in their victimization under occupation. Its impact will be felt most impressively on the growing civil society movement throughout the world to impose cultural, sporting, and academic boycotts, as well as to discourage investment, trade, and tourism with Israel. It may yet be the case that as in the anti-apartheid struggle the shift in the relation of forces in the Palestinian favor will occur not through diplomacy or as a result of armed resistance, but on the symbolic battlefield of legitimacy that has become global in scope, what might be described as the new political relevance of moral and legal globalization. "
Richard Falk is a professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University. He was a Visiting Distinguished Professor in Global and International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara (2001-04). He was also a member of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Inquiry Commission for the Palestinian territories and a member of the Independent International Commission on Kosovo. He is a member of the Editorial Boards of The Nation and The Progressive, and Chair of the Board of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. Professor Falk is on the advisory board of FFIPP-USA.
To read Professor Falk complete article on the Goldstone report see: Article
