August 3, 2004
For two weeks now, the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) has prevented around three thousand Palestinian residents from returning to their homes in the Occupied Gaza
Strip. By closing the border with Egypt at Rafah, the IDF is forcing children, patients, pregnant women and the elderly to stay at the border with no shelter and little in the way of food or sustenance. They are holding them in limbo without any clear reason.
Holding these Gaza residents prisoners is collective punishment and is a blatant violation of the most basic human rights. In a mockery of the urgency of the situation, the Israeli High court gave the IDF thirty days to respond to a petition from Israeli and
Palestinians human rights groups demanding that the crossing point be re-opened immediately.
European Jews for a Just Peace (EJJP *) expects that European citizens will share their outrage at these latest restrictions added to the plight of the Palestinians living under military repression and occupation. We require that European Governments and the EU should demand that Israel re-opens the border at Rafah without further delay.
The EJJP Executive committee
(*) EJJP is a network of 18 Jewish Peace groups in 10
European countries. For further details, please see:
www.ejjp.org
Contact:
European Jews for a Just Peace, P.O. box 59506, 1040 LA Amsterdam, Tel: +31 20 6795850
ejjp@ejjp.org