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Israeli-Palestinian Advocacy Group Condemns Gaza Invasion, June 29, 2006

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AdvocacyNet
News Bulletin 69, June 29, 2006
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Jerusalem and Washington, DC: The Alternative Information Center (AIC), a joint Palestinian-Israeli organization, has demanded that the Israeli army immediately withdraw from Gaza.

A statement released Thursday by the AIC, a partner of the Advocacy Project, describes the invasion as part of a larger plan by the Israeli government to overthrow the new Hamas-led Palestinian government. The statement also calls for the withdrawal of Israeli settlers from the Palestinian Occupied Territories and the release of Palestinian prisoners.

According to reports, the Israeli authorities arrested more than 60 Hamas officials Thursday, including Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Nasser Shaer.

AIC’s statement follows, unedited:

Stop the Attack in Gaza Immediately

The Alternative Information Center (AIC) strongly condemns the Israeli army’s invasion of the Gaza Strip. This invasion is a punishment for the results of the democratic Palestinian elections held in January and is irrelevant to the security of the state of Israel and that of its citizens.

Moreover, in the course of this invasion, civilians have been, and will continue to be, killed by Israeli soldiers, Palestinian infrastructure has been destroyed and houses demolished. These practices are in violation of the Geneva Convention and should be considered crimes of war.  

Since the Palestinian elections, Israel has consistently escalated the military tension, assassinating, injuring and kidnapping Palestinians. Since January, Israel has assassinated 172 Palestinians, mostly unarmed civilians, 50 of whom were killed during the month of June alone.  

Israeli attacks against the Palestinians were especially felt in Gaza, which has suffered massive artillery bombing and a continued siege by Israeli forces. Only a few dozen trucks have been allowed to pass through the Karni crossing each day, to feed a population of over 1.3 million people (who normally require hundreds of trucks per day for a steady food supply). So far, even threats of starvation have failed to convince the Palestinian people to overthrow its democratically elected government.

Israeli attacks on the Palestinian population have nothing to do with the security of Israeli citizens, but rather are part of Prime Minister Olmert’s war against a democratically elected government, with the objective to overthrow it.  

The kidnapping of 8 Palestinian ministers and 21 members of Parliament, as well as threats to assassinate Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Hanie, make it clear that Israeli Prime Minister Olmert and his Minister of Defense Amir Peretz plan to forcibly topple the Palestinian government.

The current incursion in the Gaza Strip does not concern the safety of POW Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier. This incursion unnecessarily risks Shalit’s life and safety. The use of force prior to even considering an exchange of prisoners demonstrates that Israel’s political goals are of higher priority than Shalit’s life.  

The Alternative Information Center maintains that the only way to peace in the region is through the complete withdrawal of the Israeli army and Israeli settlers from all of the Palestinian Occupied Territories, including occupied Jerusalem; the liberation of all Palestinian political prisoners; recognition of the Right of Return of the Palestinian refugees according to UN Resolutions 194 and 242; and full respect for the individual and national rights of the Palestinian people.  

The Alternative Information Center calls on the international community to condemn   the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip and to demand their immediate withdrawal.

• Visit the Alternative Information Center
• Read AP intern Sarah Sach’s blogs from Jerusalem
• Visit AP’s work on civil society in Palestine