The Foreign Secretary
The Rt Hon David Miliband MP
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London
SW1A 2AH

Friday 2nd January 2009

Dear Mr Miliband
I am appalled by the horrific events in Gaza. Israel is savagely bombing a largely unarmed and defenceless people. There is surely no equivalence between the feeble Qassam rockets fired at Sderot and the 100 tons or more of bombs delivered by American supplied F-16 jet fighters and Apache helicopters. It is disgraceful that targets have included Parliament buildings, universities, mosques and fuel trucks. Douglas Alexander, Britain's International Development Secretary is quoted as saying "Thousands are suffering. Medical items are in short supply. Fuel shortages have led to power cuts which in turn are affecting hospitals and other essential services.”

The Israeli navy’s ramming of the boat `Dignity` which was delivering 3.5 tonnes of Cypriot medical aid to the Gaza Strip shocked me. 6 Israeli naval vessels rammed the ship in international waters. The 20m Dignity was carrying 16 civilian passengers, including several doctors, journalists, a former US congresswoman (Cynthia McKinney) and a member of the Cypriot parliament.

UN special rapporteur Richard Falk was leading a mission that had intended to visit the West Bank and Gaza to prepare a report on Israel's compliance with human rights standards and international humanitarian law. Disgracefully he was denied admission to Israel and was made to wait for 15 hours in a filthy room. Professor Falk was treated not as a UN representative, but as some sort of security threat. The obvious intention was to humble Professor Falk as a UN representative and thereby send a message of defiance to the United Nations.

The Israeli blockade of Gaza, resulting in the collective punishment of the 1.5 million inhabitants, is totally illegal and should be lifted at once. The fact that the Palestinian people exercised their democratic right in the elections of January 2006 in no way justifies indiscriminate Israeli retaliation against the entire civilian population of Gaza. Human rights organisation Amnesty International said, "It is utterly unacceptable for Israel to continue to purposefully deprive 1.5 million people of food and other basic necessities. Such a policy cannot be justified on any security or other grounds and must end immediately."
Let the people of Gaza live!

Yours Sincerely,
Paul O’Hanlon