February saw a massive increase in the number of Gaza ceasefire violations by Palestinian Resistance fighters. In comparison with January, which saw seven such violations, there were 51 attacks in February, one of which directly targeted the Israeli military.
For over 70 years, the Zionist enterprise has been taking its daily toll on Palestinian life, limb, liberty and land. Israel’s territorial ambition in regard to land is insatiable.
Trump and Netanyahu’s so-called ‘Peace to Prosperity’ plan ignores the Palestinian right to self-determination, 1967 borders, international humanitarian law and a stream of United Nations Security Council resolutions, including UNSCR 2334, which New Zealand helped to bring forward in 2016. The Resolution was passed in the UN by 14-0, with even the UK voting in favour and the isolated US obdurately abstaining.
On 29 August 2019 we wrote the following email to Ron Mark:
The Israel Institute of New Zealand (IINZ) has welcomed a New Conservative Party NZ press release, urging the New Zealand…
Throughout October, Israeli forces carried out a total of 107 Gaza ceasefire violations before finally provoking the firing of a single missile from Gaza, on the last day of that month.
The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) was established as court of last resort for the prosecution of four international crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. Whereas Australia, New Zealand and Palestine are States Parties to the Rome Statute, Israel and its close ally, the USA, choose to remain non-signatories.
In a press release on 4 October 2019, the UNHCR’s Regional Representative in Canberra, Louise Aubin, welcomed New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s formal announcement of our refugee resettlement quota increase, noting that it “sends an important message to the world that every country can make a difference in sharing responsibility for the global refugee situation”. As the UNHCR acknowledges, the majority of refugees are confined in countries neighbouring their homelands.
There were just four Palestinian Gaza ceasefire violations in September. Two of them were missile-launches across the Green Line that took place on 10 and 12 of last month. The other two, on 7 and 9 September, were Palestinian Resistance attacks on Israeli military targets, near the border at Rafah and east Khan Yunis.
On 25 September, Foreign Affairs Minister, Winston Peters, replied to our email sent to him on 25 August. Here is our response to his reply: