At a time when, once again, people in Southern – and for the first time Central – Israel are under the threat of rockets launched from Gaza, JCall, the European Jewish network for Israel and for peace, expresses its total solidarity with the Israeli people and its support to the mourning families and to the wounded in this new wave of violence for which extremist Palestinian factions are first and foremost responsible.
Our thoughts go also to the civilian Palestinian victims in the Gaza Strip who pay the high price of a confrontation stemming from the policies of Hamas which exercises total power in Gaza.
Even as we reaffirm Israel’s right to defend its populations and its territory, we fear that the Israeli-army operation underway against rocket launchers will result in many civilian casualties in Gaza, as it has been the case too many times in the past. We know that this is precisely the objective pursued by the Palestinian extremists who want to trigger a conflagration in the region, thus hoping to mobilize in their favor the new powers in Arab states.
Even if the Israeli operation reaches the military objectives which were set, it will not be able to prevent the next round. We claim for our part that the end of the vicious circle of violence, that civilian populations on both sides have to endure above all, requires a serious resumption of negotiations between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority. A resumption of negotiations would moreover strengthen President Mahmoud Abbas who has been claiming for a while now his opposition to the use of terrorism and violence, and would thus lead to the return of peace and security.
We remind the international community – as far as we are concerned the European Union – of their duty to assist the two peoples, to negotiate a ceasefire as quickly as possible, and then to help them resolve this conflict on the basis of the “two peoples, two states” principle, before it is too late. Extremists who currently dictate the agenda must not have the last word.
