Last year, we issued a statement condemning the rising toll of violence in Israel and Palestine and called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire. Since then, we have watched in horror as Israeli forces have killed over 40,000 Palestinians in a campaign of ethnic cleansing that the International Court of Justice has ruled amounts to a “plausible” risk of genocide.
Peace Direct is also appalled by Israel’s indiscriminate bombardment in Lebanon, which has killed thousands and displaced over 1.2 million people. We fear these actions and those of other states, enabled by the international community, are stoking the risk of a regional war involving Iran, Syria, and Yemen.
One year on, we have reiterated our call for a permanent ceasefire, an end to arms sales, occupation and genocide. We urge the international community to listen to the voices of local peacebuilders in Palestine, Lebanon and Israel, centre oppressed communities, and to work for a genuine, positive peace with justice and accountability for all.
We have been disappointed to see the harmful actions of Western governments – particularly the UK and USA where we are based. Despite finally calling for an immediate ceasefire, they continue to provide weapons, as well as verbal and institutional support to Israel. Enabling Israel’s assaults on entrapped civilians across Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.
People in Palestine face direct and targeted strikes on schools, hospitals and medical staff, essential infrastructure and refugee camps, withholding of humanitarian assistance, torture and other war crimes.
In recent weeks, Israel has begun an indiscriminate bombardment in Lebanon, killing thousands and displacing over 1.2 million people. The attacks on Lebanon are quickly causing similar levels of destruction as is seen in Gaza.
In May, our Local Peacebuilding Expert asked: ‘are human rights really universal?’, and the answer of many Western governments seems to be a resounding ‘no’.
That’s not an answer we can accept.
Peace Direct takes the lead from local contacts in Palestine, Lebanon and the region who tell us it is not possible to have true local “peacebuilding” in a context of such injustice and unaccountability. Nor should the cause of peacebuilding be used to normalise occupation. They ask how it can operate in a scenario of ongoing colonial occupation, or when Palestinians and Lebanese people are continually dehumanised by western governments and international media.
While we push for government action, we see hope in the NGO campaigns, student protests, boycott movements and resistance to the arms trade. Grounded in the universality of human rights and desire for peace for all, these protests are reminders of the power of both individual people and collective movements. They are all vital forms of local peacebuilding.
