No-Fly Zone Needed Over Israel

Israel’s targeted attacks on unarmed civilians in Gaza in the last 24 hours, in which several of the victims were women and children, is yet another flagrant abuse of international law, and demands an international response such as that for Libya, ie a No-Fly Zone for Palestine.

According to reports from Gaza, nine people have been killed, and at least another 20 wounded. Four of the dead have been named as Mohammad Jihad Al Hilu (11 years), Yasser Ahed Al Hilu (16 years), Yasser Hamed Al Hilu (50 years), and Mohamed Saber Harara (20 years). They were playing football outside the Al Hilu house when it was targeted by four artillery shells.

An Israeli Military spokesperson admitted "uninvolved civilians were injured," according to Maan News Agency.

Protected by the power of US veto in the United Nations, Israel’s blatant transgressions of international law clearly show no signs of abating. Politicisation of the murder of a family of illegal immigrants (1) and acts of self-defence are Israel's feeble excuses for yet another violation of one of the principles the peoples of the region are fighting and dying for – justice.

The right to self-defence applies equally to Palestinians and especially Gazans, the right to security applies equally to Palestinians and especially to Gazans, who are under constant attack from Israel. But whenever Gazans exercise *their *legitimate rights and try to defend themselves, they are pilloried in the press as terrorists, and wiped off the face of the earth by Israeli military, or lynch-mobs.

If ever there was clear incontrovertible evidence that the current system of international law administered by the United Nations needs a total overhaul, the 63 year-old Palestinian issue provides it.

So-called human rights are negative rights – they have to be breached to be claimed.

And from whom must they be claimed? The United Nations, and the world’s self-appointed policeman, the United States, itself outside of the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court along with – you guessed it – Israel.

Any genuine justice system requires its equal application to all, without “fear or favour.”

And if the killing and injuring of civilians was sufficient cause for the international community to demand a No-Fly Zone in Libya, how much more justified is a No-Fly Zone over Palestine, where thousands of unarmed citizens, thousands of children, have already been killed, and continue to be at this very moment by the rogue state of Israel?

Come on, Security Council – the children of Gaza deserve better. Declare a No-Fly Zone for Palestinian Territories immediately.

(1) The killer/s of five members of the Fogel family earlier this month has yet to be positively identified, let alone as Palestinian – several sources suggest a disgruntled unpaid migrant labourer from Thailand who had made previous death threats as the prime suspect. Nevertheless, Netanyahu, and the Israeli (and world) media immediately trumpeted accusations of “Palestinian terrorists”, without presenting one shred of evidence, let alone an actual suspect.

By Julie Webb-Pullman

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