1 year ago
107
Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific strongly condemns the full siege currently imposed on the West Bank, including the closure of all checkpoints and gates in response to the attacks on Iran by Israel. Reports indicate a significant deployment of Israeli military forces into the region, with Palestinian towns placed under complete lockdown until further notice.
We stand in solidarity with our colleagues at PENGON (FoE Palestine) who are enduring inhumane conditions under siege—cut off from essential resources, living under constant threat, and witnessing unspeakable violence. Their courage and resilience ground our outrage and deepen our commitment to exposing and resisting the ongoing genocide and occupation in Palestine.
As Abeer Al-Butmeh, one of our comrades from FoE Palestine/PENGON told us, “Yes, we still survive. They closed all entrances and gates between cities and villages and separated us completely. We will wait and see how long the situation will remain like this, but the situation is very worrying and bad. Within three minutes, they were able to completely separate us.”
The lockdown and military buildup in the West Bank represent yet another escalation in the ongoing oppression and systemic violence against the Palestinian people and the rabid lashing out of a genocidal rogue state finding itself increasingly backed into a corner. Such actions only deepen the humanitarian crisis and undermine any prospects for peace and justice.
We are also appalled by, and strongly condemn, civilian casualties and destruction of infrastructure everywhere, including those caused by recent attacks on Syria, Lebanon, and Iran. The killing of people in Gaza as they sought humanitarian aid and desperately needed food is a brutal manifestation of a regime hell-bent on enforcing starvation as a weapon of war. The Flour Massacre which took place in February 2024 shocked the world with the barbarity on display at the time, yet over a year later, this has become an everyday occurrence.
The bombing of Iran and subsequent war has resulted in sucessfully shifting attention away from the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the deepening humanitarian crisis. Israel’s audacity is fueled by the silence of powerful nations and a persistent sense of impunity, made possible by the international community’s failure to take decisive action against its war crimes. We must continue to bear witness and stand in solidarity, unwaveringly, with Palestinians and fight all forms of occupation.
We call on the governments and the international community to put pressure on the Israeli Occupation to bring an immediate end to the siege of the West Bank and the ongoing blockade of Gaza, which is creating widespread starvation and preventing life-saving aid, including food and medical supplies, from reaching a desperate population.
We affirm that true environmental justice cannot exist without the freedom of all people to determine their own development pathways and live free from occupation and violence. We call on environmental activists and justice movements worldwide to denounce the genocide and the siege and stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle for freedom.
Finally, we call upon all governments to immediately join the Hague Group, a coalition of courageous states that represents our strongest hope for meaningful action to stop the genocide in Palestine. We also call upon every social movement, trade union, and organisation of conscience to demand that their governments support the Group’s urgent agenda: implementing the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against Israeli officials; preventing the transfer of all military equipment sustaining the ongoing genocide; and blocking the docking of ships carrying military cargo and fuel for Israel in member ports.
