The ‘peace process’ – a procession of death and pain and international complicity

By Agustin Velloso  -  PalestineChronicle

In the early hours of Tuesday, January 15th 2008, the Israeli occupation army in Palestine killed 20 Palestinians and injured about fifty others, some critically. Once again, it was just another incursion with soldiers, helicopters, tanks, armoured bulldozers and snipers in the city of Gaza, which is under an international blockade.

This army did not confront another one in the battlefield, it did not face an army hiding in trenches, guarded by anti-aircraft batteries and equipped with state of the art weapons. It attacked, as it usually does, civilians living under occupation - people who should enjoy special protection according to Geneva Conventions. These people were in the streets of their hometown, Gaza, one of the most populated cities in the world, defenceless. Half Gaza's inhabitants are under the age of 15.

Beyond the area where the victims' families live, this crime against humanity is not an issue. Crimes like this have been committed so many times by Israel, and then pardoned and forgotten so fast by its allies in Europe and the United States, that each crime quickly covers the one preceding it.

Twenty Palestinians died today, half a dozen yesterday, a similar number in the previous days. 4,000 have died since September 2000 - many of whom were children. More than 25,000 have been injured - many crippled for life. More than 11,000 are held prisoner - many uncharged and held without trial. More than 6,000 houses have been demolished in the Gaza Strip - another gross violation of Geneva Conventions.

This procession of death and pain is unparalleled, both for its duration (more than 60 years) and for the complicity of the international community. UN consent and active support by some member states acting individually, have been known since 1991 all over the world as "the peace process".