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Gaza, December 10, 2009 (Pal Telegraph) -The tenth of December marks the sixty-first anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in which the United Nations proclaimed the establishment of an international standard to measure violations against the sanctity of human life and dignity.
This celebrated occasion comes at a time when there are still places in the world where people witness the most severe human rights violations. In the Gaza Strip, the Israeli government continues to impose a hermetic economic and political siege on the Palestinian people to the point of causing de-development of their economy. Israel persists in their aggressive policy of the appropriation of land and house demolitions, uprooting trees, targeted shelling of civilians, and obstructing Palestinian’s access to their agricultural land, water, and fishing resources.
This year the theme of the World Day of Human Rights is “Embrace Diversity and End Discrimination.” Although racism is cited as a flagrant violation under both the Geneva conventions and the provisions of international law, the Israeli government still practices segregation and discriminatory policies against the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, as demonstrated by the continued, relentless building of the Apartheid Wall on Palestinian lands, denial of the simple rights of freedom of movement, access to health care, and the right of worship. Equally criminal is Israel’s systematic racism against seven hundred students from the Gaza Strip who are not allowed to leave the Strip for their universities abroad. Such punitive measures are violating their right to education, as dictated by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In Israel’s last war on Gaza, Palestinians mourned 1,419 martyrs, including 318 children, and 5, 300 injured. Twenty-thousand houses and industrial installations were destroyed of which five thousand homes were totally devastated. While the international community seemingly turned a blind eye to Israel’s brutal crimes against Gazan civilians, Goldstone’s subsequent report emerged as a glimmer of hope for the Palestinian people. Finally, they will be treated fairly in the international forums, the war criminals should be brought to justice, and their violations of human rights come to an end.
We also must not neglect to mention that there are more than 8,000 Palestinian prisoners incarcerated in Israeli prisons, including children, women, and the infirmed who suffer from all forms of racism and torture without taking into consideration their human rights provided for in the international law and conventions.
Gaza Community Mental Health Programme views racism as having deleterious effects upon the individual’s psychological well-being and the human social condition, which manifests itself in an increase in domestic, tribal and community violence, and the expression of anger and frustration towards the international community for its failure to intervene to help the Palestinian people obtain their inalienable rights to self-determination, establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state, and access to their land and natural resources.
It is imperative that the international community grasp the severity of the violations against Palestinians’ human rights and search for effective mechanisms to implement their defense within the prescribed guidelines of international law. In this manner, GCMHP cannot stress enough the necessity of heeding the principles set forth under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which has bestowed a human and legal heritage that unites all countries.
On this auspicious day, GCMHP sends an urgent appeal to the International community to uphold the human rights of all Palestinian citizens by demanding the end of the debilitating siege on the Gaza Strip, putting a halt to the “Judaization” of the Holy City of Jerusalem, freezing all land appropriation and house demolitions, and tearing down the Apartheid Wall. Finally, the international community must coerce Israel, as the Occupier State, to abide by all international agreements and conventions related to racism and human rights.
If human dignity, justice and democracy are not restored to the Palestinian people, GCMHP warns against the grave consequences of heightened political party rivalry within the Palestinian Occupied Territories, the fueling of extremist elements and a generalized deterioration in security both regionally and globally. At the same time, the mental health of Palestinian citizens is equally deteriorating.
GCMHP also summons support from all human rights groups, and all peace loving bodies within Israel and outside to help eradicate all forms of racism, and promote the values of tolerance, peace and acceptance of all culturally diverse others.
In closing, we look forward this anniversary to achieve more peace and assure a decent quality of life for all people in the world within the spirit of the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and all international conventions to follow.
Gaza Community Mental Health Programme
Source: The Palestine Telegraph
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