Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire
Promoting human rights from Salisbury UK
March 2024
The fourteenth vigil was held in the Market Square attracting strong support as usual. There was coverage in the Salisbury Journal. The vigil is to promote peace in Gaza.
There was another on Saturday 16th (brief report soon). Over 30,000 have now died in the conflict with thousands more injured. Thousands more are missing presumed dead.
February 2024
A YouTube video composite of the twelve vigils so far held has been made and can be accessed here. We are grateful to Peter Gloyns for this.
A vigil is held every Saturday in the market square in Salisbury which receives a continuing high level of support. The twelfth one was held on 24th February, starting at 5:45 pm and lasting half an hour. Just over 50 attended. The aim is to promote the cause of peace in Gaza and Israel generally. Violence continues in Gaza and there is an expectation that the death toll will reach 30,000 this week. Thousands more have been wounded. Many of the dead are women and children.
There is talk of negotiations leading to a ceasefire but whether this is so is questioned: Hamas representatives say not, Israel negotiators say maybe. Let us hope there is success.
The scale of destruction is Gaza is immense and will take colossal sums of money to put right.
The Vigils will continue through March and all are welcome.
The Salisbury group was established 50 years ago this year
February 2024
Forty and sometimes over 50, have attended half hour vigils in the Market Square in Salisbury to draw attention to the terrible events going on in Gaza. Reports of over 27,000 dead, many of whom are children with thousands more injured, some seriously, represent a terrible indictment of the state of international politics today. Just over half the buildings in the strip are demolished or severely damaged as a result of the bombing. Attempts at peacekeeping and an end to the violence have so far come to naught.
Members of Salisbury Concern for Israel Palestine, CND and the Amnesty group attend with others.
Nine vigils have now taken place and although attendance varies it seldom dips below 40. They begin at 17:15 for 30 minutes every Saturday in February (at least).
Pictures: Salisbury Amnesty
October 2023
The Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres, created an international diplomatic storm when he called for a ceasefire in the Middle East. If such a ceasefire was agreed it would prevent – at least technically – Israel’s stated intention to enter Gaza and eliminate Hamas as a terror organisation. But what has roused the Israelis to considerable anger is his comments about the factors leading up to the outrage on October 7th. The actions by Hamas were appalling and have been almost universally condemned. The key passage is below:
The attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum, he noted, with the Palestinian people being subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation, during which they saw their land devoured by settlements; their economy stifled; their homes demolished; and their hopes for a political solution vanishing. However, the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas. “And those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” he said, emphasizing: “Even war has rules.” At this critical hour, he appealed to everyone to pull back from the brink before the violence claims even more lives and spreads even farther.
Guterres clearly links the history of the post 1948 settlements to the events of today. The central argument is whether the barbaric actions of Hamas terrorists can ever be justified by what has taken place over the past 56 years? Guterres says not but clearly recognises that the treatment the Palestinians received over these decades is clearly a factor. He also says that the actions taken against the citizens of Gaza, which are ‘collective punishment’, are not justified by the Hamas attack. A copy of the full UN statement is available here.
On a purely practical level, invading Gaza is likely to be neither effective nor good politics. It will be a bloody affair with heavy losses of life on both sides. It is unlikely, not to say impossible, to achieve since although it may be possible to kill Hamas people, it is impossible to kill an idea or ideology. Around the world, there was a high degree of sympathy and shock at the awful deaths of Israelis on 7th. The death toll mounts in Gaza, including hundreds of children, some of the hospitals are closing for want of fuel and water. Only tiny amounts of aid are entering the enclave. The sympathy which the Israelis received after the terrible killings, may begin to dissipate as time goes by.
Events like these always have causes. Violence seldom if ever springs out of nowhere. Years of apartheid and persecution will have had their effects. What is clear that two wrongs don’t make a right. Palestinians have suffered great wrongs as Guterres and others have said but that does not justify the actions of Hamas. The actions of Hamas in turn do not justify the Israelis taking punitive action against an entire people. This is particularly so as Israel is a modern, heavily armed state with overwhelming military superiority. As Human Rights Watch puts it ‘Condemn the Crimes, Comprehend the Context’
One thing which has become clear is that these events have shone a light on various western nations including the UK. Neither Rishi Sunak, the British prime minister, nor Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of the opposition party, are having ‘a good war’. The former has been too partisan offering unqualified support for Israel and saying very little about human rights. The desire to score political points has swamped the need for a statesmanlike and impartial approach. Sir Keir has been particularly disappointing: as an ex human rights lawyer and director of the DPP, he must know that cutting off supplies of water, electricity and fuel to Gaza is a war crime yet he defended their actions in doing this [Update: Sir Keir denies this is an interview today]. He seems to be too desperate to shake off the anti-Semitism his party was accused of under the previous leader. This seems to have led him to refrain from saying anything which might be construed as critical of Israel. At serious moments like this when we want calm judgement and measured responses, both leaders have fallen short.
October 2023
We enclose verbatim, a statement by the chief executive officer of Amnesty UK concerning the conflict in Israel/Palestine.
| We are horrified by the escalating violence in recent days and the mounting civilian death toll in Israel and Gaza, and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Hamas’s shocking summary killings and abductions of civilians displayed a chilling disregard for life and for international law. Deliberate attacks on civilians & hostage-taking are war crimes & cannot be justified under any circumstances. Hamas and other armed groups must end deliberate attacks on civilians, the firing of indiscriminate rockets, and hostage-taking. They must release civilian hostages immediately. Relentless Israeli air strikes are now pounding Gaza, obliterating entire families and destroying whole neighbourhoods. Once again civilians in Gaza have nowhere to seek safety. The Israeli authorities’ illegal 16-year blockade on the Gaza Strip, a key part of its system of apartheid, means 2.2 million Palestinians are trapped, plunged into darkness, and without access to essential needs. The collective punishment of Gaza’s civilian population by Israeli authorities amounts to a war crime – it is cruel and inhumane. Palestinian civilians are not responsible for the crimes of Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups, and according to international law Israeli authorities must not make them suffer for acts they have played no role in and cannot control. Families and survivors deserve justice. As the situation is so fast moving, Amnesty is publishing the latest developments via publications on the press releases page of the AIUK website, which you can see here https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases. In solidarity, Sacha Deshmukh Chief Executive Officer Amnesty International UK |
September 2022
We are pleased to attach the monthly death penalty report with thanks to group member Lesley for the work in compiling it. Note it contains no information about China which is believed to execute more of its citizens than the rest of the world put together, but the details are a state secret.
The fate of Palestinians and Gaza is in the news a lot recently and there is shortly to be a film shown called From Balfour to Banksy: Division and Vision in Palestine.
This will be shown at Sarum College on 27 September at 7:0 for 7:30. It is free but there is a retiring collection. The speaker will be Miranda Pinch. Further information can be obtained from sarumconcern.org
We attach a letter published in the Guardian newspaper on 15th of August from survivors of the Holocaust. It is an extremely moving letter, particularly bearing in mind the people who signed it. It is unequivocal in its criticism of the violence by the IDF in Gaza. It is worthy of a wider audience.
“As Jewish survivors and descendants of survivors and victims of the Nazi genocide, we unequivocally condemn the massacre of Palestinians in Gaza and the ongoing occupation and colonisation of historic Palestine. We further condemn the United States for providing Israel with the funding to carry out the attack, and western states more generally for using their diplomatic muscle to protect Israel from condemnation. Genocide begins with the silence of the world.
We are alarmed by the extreme, racist dehumanisation of Palestinians in Israeli society, which has reached fever-pitch. Politicians and pundits in the Times of Israel and the Jerusalem Post have called openly for genocide of Palestinians and rightwing Israelis are adopting neo-Nazi insignia.
Furthermore, we are disgusted and outraged by Elie Wiesel’s abuse of our history in these pages (advertisement, 11 August; Report, 11 August) to promote blatant falsehoods used to justify the unjustifiable: Israel’s wholesale effort to destroy Gaza and the murder of nearly 2,000 Palestinians, including many hundreds of children. Nothing can justify bombing UN shelters, homes, hospitals and universities. Nothing can justify depriving people of electricity and water.
We must raise our collective voices and use our collective power to bring about an end to all forms of racism, including the ongoing genocide of Palestinian people. We call for an immediate end to the blockade of Gaza. We call for the full economic, cultural and academic boycott of Israel. “Never again” must mean “Never again for anyone”. ”
Hajo Meyer survivor of Auschwitz; The Netherlands, Henri Wajnblum survivor and son of an Auschwitz victim from Lodz, Poland; Belgium, Norbert Hirschhorn refugee of Nazi genocide and grandson of three people who died in the Shoah; London, Suzanne Weiss survived in hiding in France, whose mother died in Auschwitz; Canada, Felicia and Moshe Langer survivors from Germany, Moshe survived five concentration camps, family members were exterminated; Germany, Michael Rice child survivor, son and grandson of survivor; United States and 30 Jewish survivors of the Nazi genocide and 260 children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and other relatives of survivors
See full list at ijsn.net/gaza/survivors-and-descendants-letter/
The world has been horrified by the films, reports and photographs coming out of #Gaza since the latest violence started. Amnesty teams – along with other organisations – have been in Gaza to assess the damage and have found evidence of war crimes by both sides in the conflict. There have been serious violations by both parties but since the Israel Defence Force is the best equipped army and air force in the region by far, the damage and destruction has been predominantly on the Palestinian side.
Hamas continues to fire rockets into Israel but with the protection of Iron Dome, few have resulted in casualties. The casualties on the Palestinian side have now passed 2000 (12 August, Sky News) with 67 Israeli deaths. Many of the Palestinian casualties are women and children, killed in strikes on schools, mosques and hospitals.
Israel is able to carry on its attacks secure in the knowledge that it has, and continues to have, the support of the United States. Indeed, the USA has continued to supply weapons to replace those lost in the latest fighting. The United Kingdom supplied £6.3m in weapons to Israel last year.
It seems clear to most outside observers that whatever the provocation Israel has suffered, the scale of destruction in Gaza has been disproportionate. This latest incursion follows hard on operation Cast Lead which also wrought terrible destruction in the territory.
Nor is the suffering imposed limited to the fighting but comes on top of the relentless expansion of settlements and the blockade of Gaza which has now lasted over seven years. Gaza is in effect a prison surrounded by a stifling regime of checkpoints, barriers and walls. They are not allowed to catch fish in the sea. Inhabitants also have to endure power and water cuts for no apparent reason.
Is there any hope in all this? Surprisingly, there may be. It will not come from the ceasefires and feeble political statements wishing peace while at the same time continuing to sell arms. The key difference this time is that Israel is losing the propaganda war. Such is the volume of evidence emerging from Gaza, the harrowing footage of injured children and pictures of the scale of destruction, that people around the world have been moved to protest (see picture).
British Ministers are forbidden to use the word ‘disproportionate’ in their various statements. But the public can see that it is. Nick Clegg described the attacks on schools as ‘outrageous’. Israel is desperate to avoid its actions going to the International Criminal Court and will no doubt succeed with US help in so doing.
With Cast Lead, the Israelis were able to keep journalists out of Gaza so that very little was seen on our TV screens. This time, with a range of devices, images are coming through loud and clear. This is another example of the public seeing things for what they are and politicians being behind the curve. Support for Israel is still strong in the United States certainly among Senators and Congressmen, but younger people are not so supportive. This is likely to be the key difference this time.
Visit the South Region site of Amnesty
Amnesty International comments on Gaza
Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire 