Copy of letter sent by Maurice Ostroff to prime ministers of Canada, Britain, Germany, France and Slovenia,


January 22, 2008

May I respectfully suggest that your representative on the HRC take the following circumstances into account when participating in the above session.
 
If the proposers of the motion to end the blockade of Gaza are sincerely interested in the welfare of the Gazan citizens, they can achieve their goal speedily and effectively by addressing the party that really holds the key, namely Hamas. And as Hamas is well disposed to the majority of HRC member states, HRC is in a favorable position to influence that organization.
 
In the interests of moral integrity, the HRC dare not miss this opportunity to effectively release the Gazans from their nightmare by insisting and ensuring that Hamas put an end to the rocket attacks, whereupon electricity, fuel and other supplies will immediately start flowing into Gaza.
 
It is completely illogical to expect Israel to refrain from acting to counter the War Crime of rockets deliberately aimed from civilian areas in Gaza, at Israeli homes, schools and hospitals with the declared intention of killing and maiming as many as possible.  More than 4,000 rockets have landed in Israel since the pullout from Gaza and it is not due to lack of intent, that none have yet landed on a crowded hospital or school.
 
The declared intention is to indiscriminately kill and maim as many civilians as possible. If any had had fallen on a school the number of casualties would have been disastrous. In the past few weeks alone, more than 450 rockets and mortars have been launched. If each missile fired had achieved the launcher�s intention, the results would have been a massacre of huge proportions. That this was and remains the intention cannot be ignored and it is only by the grace of the almighty that it has not happened.
 
Removing the cause of the blockade by ending the firing of rockets would obviously be of greater humanitarian value than cynically adding another vengeful one-sided resolution against Israel while completely ignoring the context in which events are taking place.

Sincerely
Maurice Ostroff

 

See  UN Watch petition http://www.unwatch.org/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=bdKKISNqEmG&b=1288071&aid=9734&refid=180264605

 

January 22, 2008
From Maurice Ostroff
To the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Geneva Switzerland

email: nfoDesk@ohchr
 
Sir,

I will be grateful if you will kindly forward this letter to the chairman of the above session, with the request that the contents be made available to all attendees

That Israel is a focus of special attention by the HRC, is obvious from the fact that in the short time since its formation in 2006, the above meeting will be the fourth Special Session relating to that country. It is therefore unsurprising that the HRC is anxious that the Israeli blockade of Gaza be ended as soon a possible and I respectfully offer a suggestion, which if adopted, will certainly achieve this result. 

Moral integrity requires that the HRC dare not miss this opportunity to effectively release the Gazans from their nightmare. However, to be practical and realistic, it is essential that it address the party that really holds the key, namely Hamas. It may be expedient politically to continue blaming Israel alone, but the time has surely come to acknowledge that Hamas bears the major responsibility for the suffering of the Gazan population. It is a sine qua non that if there were no rockets fired, there would be no blockade.

The HRC special session surely must realize that the flow of electricity, fuel and other supplies into Gaza will resume as soon as Hamas meaningfully ends the rocket attacks. By meaningfully, I mean that it does not just create a short respite during which it prepares for  a later onslaught.

It is completely illogical to expect Israel to refrain from acting to counter the serious War Crime of rockets deliberately aimed from civilian areas in Gaza, at Israeli homes, schools and hospitals with the declared intention of killing and maiming as many as possible.  More than 4,000 rockets have landed in Israel since the pullout from Gaza and it is not due to lack of intent, that none have yet landed on a crowded hospital or school.

The declared intention of the rocket launchers is to indiscriminately kill and maim as many civilians as possible. If any had fallen on a school the number of casualties would have been disastrous. In the past few weeks alone, more than 450 rockets and mortars have been launched. If each missile fired had achieved the launcher's intention, the results would have been a massacre of huge proportions. That this was and remains the intention cannot be ignored and it is only by the grace of the almighty that it has not happened.

Removing the cause of the blockade by ending the firing of rockets would obviously be of greater humanitarian value than cynically adding another vengeful one-sided resolution against Israel while completely ignoring the context in which events are taking place.

Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
Maurice Ostroff