UNITED NATIONS PANEL MEETING TO PREVENT PALESTINIAN GENOCIDE
December 27, 2023Hannah Bruinsma: I want to start with saying how important it is that we have this conversation here today because those who are speaking out against the crimes of genocide are under attack. Human rights activists, scholars are facing the threat of being fired, of being silenced or even being killed. And this is not only happening in occupied Palestinian territory. It’s also happening in Europe and here in the US.
I’m here on behalf of ‘Love for Palestine’ to talk about the situation through the lens of international law framework and on the crimes of genocide, and to speak on the failure of the international community to hold Israel accountable for 75-year-long settler colonial regime. It’s 56-year illegal occupation of Palestinian territory and its 16-year-long siege of the Gaza Strip.
It’s impunity over decades of international crimes, including crime of apartheid, is accumulated in the past months of horrific violence, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, and a crime of genocide now conducted with impunity. Because it should be clear, based on the legal research that ‘Law for Palestine’ has conducted, what we’re witnessing now is a crime of genocide, the indiscriminate bombing of Palestinian people, medical service, not being able to respond to the people who are still trapped under the rubble.
So, on the ground, genocide requires both the intent and the act to happen. And as Dr. Ross Gal already mentioned, it’s written in the Genocide Convention of the key actions. Through the killing of individuals, the inflicting of serious physical and psychological harm on them, and intentionally creating living conditions designed to destroy the group, either whole or in part.
And according to our legal research and comparing them with the facts on the ground, we have come to the conclusion that Israel is deliberately inflicting these three conditions on the Palestinian people based on the collected evidence.
Usually, the intent to destroy is the most difficult part to prove, because you really have to be to have the intent to destroy in your particular group. But in this case, as Ross already mentioned, the intent by the Israeli leaders has been very explicit by the prime minister, by the president, by senior cabinet members and by military leaders.
We’ve collected so far over 500 statements that demonstrate its intent, often of those who are in the chain of command. Rafael Lemkin, the author of The Genocide, has written that the crime of genocide is not limited to the acts of mass killing, but must incorporate encompass a coordinated plan aimed at disrupting the essential foundations of the lives of the national and ethnic group in Gaza.
We’ve seen explicit evidence of Israel’s plan and its continued execution of this plan. An example of this is Israel’s 70-year-old Dominion Doctrine, a military strategy of disproportionate force to weaken the population to a point where mere survival supersedes resistance. For the past eight weeks, we’ve seen this doctrine in full force, including Israel’s announcement of a total siege of Gaza.
The Genocide Convention has 152 signatories as of date, meaning that 152 members recognize the importance of preventing the crime of genocide from happening. Since its inception in 1948. It has become customary international law, which has also been reiterated by the ICJ on numerous occasions. So, it is means that not only 152 signatory states are obliged to comply with the convention, but that all member states of the international community are obliged to comply.
Palestinians face structural discrimination, including crime for apartheid’s discriminatory laws. Settler colonial settler violence in both in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem. House demolition, destruction of villages and forced evictions and the detention of thousands of Palestinians without charge, often on the basis of administrative detention. All these elements make Palestine daily life a struggle and therefore our actions shouldn’t stop it stopping the crime of genocide, but also with upholding the Palestinian rights to self-determination.
Because multiple UN General Assembly and U.N. Security Resolution have reiterated this right and also outlined in the mandate of the Committee on the exercise of the inalienable Rights of the Palestinian people. That in hosting today’s event that the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination is inalienable. It’s obligatory on all members of the international community to build a case against the perpetrators of these crimes of genocide, and to see that they are brought to justice. Thank you.
English Script:
Hannah Bruinsma: I want to start with saying how important it is that we have this conversation here today because those who are speaking out against the crimes of genocide are under attack. Human rights activists, scholars are facing the threat of being fired, of being silenced or even being killed. And this is not only happening in occupied Palestinian territory. It’s also happening in Europe and here in the US.
I’m here on behalf of ‘Love for Palestine’ to talk about the situation through the lens of international law framework and on the crimes of genocide, and to speak on the failure of the international community to hold Israel accountable for 75-year-long settler colonial regime. It’s 56-year illegal occupation of Palestinian territory and its 16-year-long siege of the Gaza Strip.
It’s impunity over decades of international crimes, including crime of apartheid, is accumulated in the past months of horrific violence, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, and a crime of genocide now conducted with impunity. Because it should be clear, based on the legal research that ‘Law for Palestine’ has conducted, what we’re witnessing now is a crime of genocide, the indiscriminate bombing of Palestinian people, medical service, not being able to respond to the people who are still trapped under the rubble.
So, on the ground, genocide requires both the intent and the act to happen. And as Dr. Ross Gal already mentioned, it’s written in the Genocide Convention of the key actions. Through the killing of individuals, the inflicting of serious physical and psychological harm on them, and intentionally creating living conditions designed to destroy the group, either whole or in part.
And according to our legal research and comparing them with the facts on the ground, we have come to the conclusion that Israel is deliberately inflicting these three conditions on the Palestinian people based on the collected evidence.
Usually, the intent to destroy is the most difficult part to prove, because you really have to be to have the intent to destroy in your particular group. But in this case, as Ross already mentioned, the intent by the Israeli leaders has been very explicit by the prime minister, by the president, by senior cabinet members and by military leaders.
We’ve collected so far over 500 statements that demonstrate its intent, often of those who are in the chain of command. Rafael Lemkin, the author of The Genocide, has written that the crime of genocide is not limited to the acts of mass killing, but must incorporate encompass a coordinated plan aimed at disrupting the essential foundations of the lives of the national and ethnic group in Gaza.
We’ve seen explicit evidence of Israel’s plan and its continued execution of this plan. An example of this is Israel’s 70-year-old Dominion Doctrine, a military strategy of disproportionate force to weaken the population to a point where mere survival supersedes resistance. For the past eight weeks, we’ve seen this doctrine in full force, including Israel’s announcement of a total siege of Gaza.
The Genocide Convention has 152 signatories as of date, meaning that 152 members recognize the importance of preventing the crime of genocide from happening. Since its inception in 1948. It has become customary international law, which has also been reiterated by the ICJ on numerous occasions. So, it is means that not only 152 signatory states are obliged to comply with the convention, but that all member states of the international community are obliged to comply.
Palestinians face structural discrimination, including crime for apartheid’s discriminatory laws. Settler colonial settler violence in both in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem. House demolition, destruction of villages and forced evictions and the detention of thousands of Palestinians without charge, often on the basis of administrative detention. All these elements make Palestine daily life a struggle and therefore our actions shouldn’t stop it stopping the crime of genocide, but also with upholding the Palestinian rights to self-determination.
Because multiple UN General Assembly and U.N. Security Resolution have reiterated this right and also outlined in the mandate of the Committee on the exercise of the inalienable Rights of the Palestinian people. That in hosting today’s event that the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination is inalienable. It’s obligatory on all members of the international community to build a case against the perpetrators of these crimes of genocide, and to see that they are brought to justice. Thank you.
