Corrie's Letter to To Members of the Washington State Congressional Delegation

As most of you are aware, the month of May has been particularly destructive in Gaza, especially in Rafah. Many have been killed; homes and shops have been destroyed; land has been razed. For those of us who have developed special connections to the people in Rafah, reports in the news and from friends there have been devastating. Those of us involved with the Olympia Rafah Sister City Project have felt compelled to take action. We have requested meetings with Senators Murray and Cantwell and with Congressman Baird to discuss the events and to propose specific actions for them to take. Our requests are generally based on positions taken by human rights organizations that have addressed the situation. We think it important that our representatives in Congress hear that their constituents support these positions. Attached is the letter we will present to them, including the requests.

We welcome support from other organizations and from individuals who share our view. It would be helpful to us to go to the meetings able to say that we represent a specific number of people or specific groups. Please take a couple minutes to read the letter and if you or your organization can support the position we take, let me know. If possible, include the number of members in your organization. We are hopeful that our "delegation" can establish a relationship with the congressional offices so that we can return in the future with further information and requests.

We may need to limit the number of people who attend each meeting, but we will do our best to include a representative from any group that wishes to join us. Please let us know your availability. We do hope to include in each meeting, at least one person who has spent time in Rafah.

Thank you for considering this as soon as possible. While our meeting dates have not been set, we hope and expect that they will happen soon. Please share this with local groups that may be interested.

We are writing with hope that your support for a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can lead to decisive action and better U.S. foreign policy that will promote human rights and security for all those involved. We write as U.S. citizens who are alarmed by the recent actions taken by the Israeli military in the Palestinian community of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, and on behalf of many individuals in Olympia, Washington, who have established relationships with citizens in Rafah.

Israel’s military siege in Gaza has been catastrophic for the civilian population there. According to the United Nations, the military destroyed enough residential buildings in the first two weeks of May to make 2,197 people homeless. On May 25, the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, reported that from May 13-24, in “Operation Rainbow,” the IDF killed 58 Palestinians in Rafah, including at least eight minors. On May 27, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) reported that of those killed in Rafah, 45 were civilians (ten children) and that, at least, 200 more were injured—most, victims of Israeli helicopter missiles and tank shells. PCHR reported that the declared goal, according to the Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and the Israeli military Chief of Staff Moshe Yalon, was to destroy 600 Palestinian houses along the Egyptian border, south of Rafah. In continuing investigation, B’Tselem reported 183 houses in Rafah completely destroyed, dozens more severely damaged, and extensive damage to infrastructure and private property. PCHR stated that under the guise of national security, 4,847 civilians became homeless, at least 700 donums of agricultural land were razed, and 46 shops, several civilian facilities, a mosque, cemeteries, and civilian infrastructure were destroyed. Furthermore, citizens were deprived access to food, clean water, medical attention, means for income and access to schools. According to Amnesty International, on May 19, the Israeli army killed eight Palestinians (four children) and injured dozens of others who marched in a peaceful demonstration in Rafah. Eyewitnesses claim that the deaths and injuries were caused by shelling from Israeli army helicopters and tanks stationed nearby. The United Nations, the European Union, human rights organizations, and many Israeli citizens and leaders have condemned these actions.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called on Israel to live up to its responsibilities, "which include protecting the civilian population and eschewing the disproportionate or indiscriminate use of force." On May 19, by a vote of 14-0, with the U.S. abstaining, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1544, which expressed "its grave concern at the continued deterioration of the situation on the ground in the territory occupied by Israel since 1967,” and condemned “the killing of Palestinian civilians that took place in the Rafah area." The resolution calls on Israel to "respect its obligations under international humanitarian law, and insists, in particular, on its obligation not to undertake demolition of homes contrary to that law."

On May 20, John Dugard, the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights at the UN issued a statement calling the Israeli military actions "a violation of international humanitarian law" that constitute war crimes under the Geneva Convention relative to the protection of civilians in times of war. "They also amount to collective punishment, which violates both humanitarian law and international human rights law," the statement added. "It is impossible to accept the Israeli argument that these actions are justified by military necessity. On the contrary…they are carried out unlawfully and wantonly. " The Special Rapporteur called on the UN Security Council to take appropriate action to stop the violence--if necessary, by imposing a mandatory arms embargo on Israel like that imposed on South Africa in 1977.

The Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem stated that the action taken by the Israeli military in Rafah, "severely violates international humanitarian law, to which Israel is obligated. Israel, as the occupying force in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, is obliged to protect the local population and ensure its safety and welfare.”

Amnesty International stated in their May 18 report that, “In the past three-and-a-half years the Israeli army has carried out extensive destruction of homes and properties throughout the West Bank and Gaza which is not justified by military necessity. Some of these acts of destruction amount to grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention and are war crimes. ... The prohibition on collective punishment is also a cardinal rule of human rights law. The recently accelerated Israeli practice of demolishing houses owned by relatives of suicide bombers or other Palestinian armed attackers is a blatant form of collective punishment. Collective penalties also include such measures as attacking an entire community in retaliation for acts committed by members of that community, or arbitrarily restricting the movement of an entire population.”

On May 20, Human Rights Watch stated, “ The Israeli military’s use of tanks and helicopters yesterday to fire on nonviolent demonstrators in the southern Gaza Strip constituted an unlawful and unnecessary use of force....It’s outrageous that Israeli forces used battlefield weaponry to block peaceful marchers,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of the Human Rights Watch Middle East and North Africa division. “By using heavy weapons against non-violent demonstrators, Israel has violated not only international law, but also its own open-fire regulations.”

An estimated 150,000 people attended a May 15 peace rally at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, calling for a pullout from Gaza and resumption of peace talks. During that rally, opposition leader Shimon Peres, among other political leaders, proclaimed, "We must not support a puppet government that follows the delusional ideas of the right.”

Israeli Justice Minister, Yosef Lapid (member of the centrist Shinui Party, Sharon confidante, and Holocaust survivor) recently said that television images from Rafah reminded him of the suffering of his own family. “I am talking about an old woman on all fours looking for her medicine in the rubble of her home, and I thought about my grandmother,” he told Army Radio. Lapid’s grandmother and other relatives died in the Holocaust. According to the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, “Lapid revealed that the Israeli army was considering demolition of some 2,000 homes in Rafah in order to broaden Philadelphi”—the border strip between Gaza and Egypt. Lapid remarked, “The demolition of houses in Rafah must stop. It is not humane, not Jewish, and causes us grave damage in the world.”

The historically special relationship between the U.S. and Israel, the funding that we provide the Israeli military, and our nearly unwavering support of Israel in the UN, all contribute to a view held by much of the world that we are complicit in Israeli military actions against the Palestinians. U.S. lawmakers are in a unique position to challenge that view by insisting that both sides in the conflict uphold international law and respect for basic rights. To that end, we ask that you, our elected representative, take the following steps:

1. Condemn, unequivocally, the recent actions of the Israeli military in Rafah against Palestinians and their homes, land, and infrastructure. Furthermore, condemn any such actions that may ensue.

2. Demand that Israel, an occupying power, fulfill its obligations to the Palestinian people under the law and cease all home, land, and infrastructure demolitions that do not conform to international standards, including those aimed at deterring future attacks.

3. Demand that Israeli judicial authorities conduct a thorough, independent investigation of the incident on May 19 when civilians marching in a peaceful demonstration in Rafah were killed and injured. Insist that those found responsible for wrongdoing be appropriately disciplined or prosecuted.

4. Call for immediate placement of trained international human rights monitors on both sides of the Green Line to offer some protection to the civilian populations of both Palestine and Israel.