Mary Robinson: The situation in Gaza is 'unconscionable'
Vivienne Clarke
Former president Mary Robinson has said what is happening in Gaza is "unconscionable", with major aid agencies saying that mass starvation is spreading in the Palestinian enclave.
The former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights was speaking ahead of a UN ministerial-level conference on Palestine in New York next week, saying there needed to be a parallel humanitarian and political approach to end the conflict and get aid to Gazans.
The World Health Organization said on Wednesday 21 children under the age of five were among those who died of malnutrition so far this year. It said it had been unable to deliver any food for nearly 80 days between March and May and that a resumption of food deliveries was still far below what is needed.
In a statement on Wednesday, 111 organisations, including Mercy Corps, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Refugees International, said mass starvation was spreading even as tons of food, clean water and medical supplies sit untouched just outside Gaza, where aid groups are blocked from accessing them.
Israel, which cut off all supplies to Gaza from the start of March and reopened it with new restrictions in May, says it is committed to allowing in aid but must control it to prevent it from being diverted by militants. It says it has let enough food into Gaza during the war and blames Hamas for the suffering of Gaza's 2.2 million people.
Israel has also accused the UN of failing to act in a timely fashion, saying 700 truckloads of aid are idling inside Gaza. "It is time for them to pick it up and stop blaming Israel for the bottlenecks which are occurring," Israeli government spokesman David Mercer said on Wednesday.
The UN and aid groups trying to deliver food to Gaza say Israel, which controls everything that comes in and out, is choking delivery, and Israeli troops have shot hundreds of Palestinians dead close to aid collection points since May.
Ms Robinson told RTÉ's Morning Ireland there was "an utter urgency" to get a ceasefire in the conflict, with all the hostages released and the stockpiles of food, water and medical supplies allowed to be distributed by the UN and aid agencies.
"But we need a parallel approach. We also need the political approach and we need that to be a turning point and that's why this conference in New York is so important. Recently prime minister Netanyahu telephoned Pope Leo to apologise for the injury to Father Gabriel Romanelli when a Catholic church was bombed.
"Prime minister Netanyahu has not apologised for the more than 17,000 children killed in Gaza. He has not apologised for the many more children left without limbs and without family members. He has not apologised for all the children of Gaza who've been traumatised by this totally disproportionate war and are now hungry to the point of starvation because no apology is deemed to be necessary because this right-wing government has dehumanised the Palestinians."
When asked if Israel should face sanctions as had Syria and Russia, she said: "Yes, there should be more sanctions on the leaders who are responsible, and there should be no arms supplied to continue this war which has been involved in so many war crimes."
Ms Robinson said the UK and France were on the verge of recognising the state of Palestine. "If Western countries, particularly P5 countries like the United Kingdom and France, recognise the state of Israel, then we begin the political road towards that state. We restore the humanity of the Palestinians who are being dehumanised. They are being less than human in the way they are being treated at the moment."
She added: "I think people realise that we cannot tolerate an unfolding genocide. That's what it is. It's for the courts to determine that ultimately, especially the International Court of Justice with the South African case."
Ms Robinson said she would speak with foreign ministers on the first day of the UN conference to urge them to take the necessary steps to recognise the the state of Palestine.
"That is the most urgent thing to turn the corner. That would actually have a huge impact.
"And what France and the United Kingdom have been saying is we don't want to [recognise Palestine] as a symbol. We want it at the right moment. Well now is the right moment because otherwise it's all going to be too late and we're going to have a starving genocidal killing on our doorstep, on our watch."
