Dessin de Kichka
The two hostages’s rescue by the Israeli army has given us as much relief as the entire Israeli population. In spite of that second success—a female soldier had already been released at the start of the ground incursion into Gaza—most Israeli military reviewers think that it is necessary to reach an agreement with Hamas if Israel wants to bring home the 134 hostages they still hold, while 50 abductees might be dead today. Facing the emergency of that situation, the hostages’families increase pressure on the governement, while the Israeli population is still very divided when it comes to establishing an extended truce. More and more Israelis are mobilizing for an agreement now and we support their demand.
Still devastated by the October 7 massacres, the Israeli population is less sensitive to the dramatic situation of Palestinian refugee civilians in the southern Gaza Strip, whose images are almost absent from the major Israeli media, which still devote most of their broadcasts to the testimonies of hostages’families, fallen soldiers, and survivors of October 7th.
As soon as October 8th, the day after that tragic Saturday evening, we proclaimed our full and unconditional support to the Israeli people and affirmed their right to defend themselves. But after 4 months of a war that has in fact weakened seriously the military capabilities of the Hamas, and facing the scale of the humanitarian disaster for the Gazan refugee population near Rafah if the Israeli army decides to attack this last bastion of Hamas, we wish to express our concern for this population, a concern shared with more and more Israelis who fear the consequences of such an offensive on the fate of the hostages. Time has come to call for a prolonged truce in exchange for their full release.
We are also increasingly concerned about the deterioration of Israel’s international image. Let us remember that its security depends as much on the strength of its army and the motivation of its population as on the support of the Western democratic countries, and in the first place that of the United States, their main supplier of armaments. And this struggle, reflected in the opinions of these countries, especially among the young people who are the leaders of tomorrow, Israel is losing it, even in the United States.First of all because of the consequences of the asymmetric war which Israel is waging where, as in all wars of this type, the sympathy of the public goes to the weakest. But also because of the violent behavior of the West Bank settlers towards the Palestinians, and of the colonization that continues, even during the war, with the support of the government. This is why we approve the measures taken by the United States, followed by those of other European countries such as Belgium, the United Kingdom and France, to channel violent settlers financially and we call on all EU countries to follow their example.
It is time for the government to define its plan for the post-war management of Gaza, as requested by military and opposition leaders, and to stand out from the statements of its far-right ministers calling for a return of settlers to Gaza, even though this option is rejected by most Israelis.
We welcome the initiative which the US administration, in coordination with Arab States, intends to promote in the next few weeks in order to reach a ceasefire and open a political perspective to end the conflict on the basis of the following principles:
– Creation of a demilitarized Palestinian state under the responsability of a revitalized Palestinian Authority.
– Normalization of Israel’s relations with Saudi Arabia
These quasi-official proposals by President Biden are in the spirit of our 2010 Call for reason and the two-state vision that JCall has advocated since its creation. It is high time to put an end to this conflict by responding to the legitimate demands of both peoples to live in dignity and security in their own State.
We call for increased humanitarian assistance to the civilian population of Gaza, which has been hard hit by the war. This assistance is not only morally necessary to face the suffering of Palestinian civilians, but also politically necessary in the perspective of a solution to the conflict.
We approve the current audit of the UNRWA agency in order to shed light on the dysfunctions of this organization. Humanitarian aid is crucial and must be managed by an impeccable organization.
Last but not least, we support the Israeli protests calling for early elections. We believe, like 71% of them, that the government that leads them has lost its legitimacy and that it is vital for the future of the country to replace it with a new leadership rid of its extremists.
