Pax Christi, Catholic NGO, Condemns Israeli Occupation…plus…another Palestinian Girl Shot
Posted on June 1, 2017 by Richard Edmondson
[ Ed. note – Pax Christi, the Catholic peace group, has issued a press release today calling for an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. Overall I’d say it’s a good press release, although I do have a few minor criticisms. While the press release refers to the “occupied Palestinian territories,” it doesn’t say whether it includes East Jerusalem in that.
Additionally, while it does include a quote about “steady settlement expansion,” it also calls for “the parties to return to the negotiating table”–which is precisely what Israel has been calling for as well. While Palestinians had previously demanded that Israel halt its settlement expansions before resuming peace talks, apparently this demand was dropped by PA President Mahmoud Abbas during his meeting with Trump earlier this month. I personally think it would be unwise for the Palestinians to resume negotiations without a commitment to halt to the settlement building as a precondition, and I think the press release could have been improved upon had it mentioned at least that this had been one of the key demands in the past.
Finally, the press release calls for “a ban on the sale and delivery of arms to Israel and Palestine.” I guess the Pax Christi folks are trying to avoid criticism of taking sides, but it’s absurd to include such a call. No country is currently shipping arms to Palestine. On the other hand, the US just last year signed a $38 billion military aid package to Israel. Far better would it have been for the press release to call for an end to all aid to Israel, or, failing that, at least an end to all military aid to Israel–and leave it at that.
Still all in all for a prominent Catholic organization like Pax Christi to call for an end to the occupation is a milestone. As the article below from Ma’an News makes clear, Pax Christi isn’t the only organization to issue such a call. The British aid organization Oxfam has also done so. Both calls, from Pax Christi and Oxfam, were issued in conjunction with the upcoming 50 anniversary of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the 1967 war.
Both calls also, by the way, come as Israelis have just shot another young Palestinian girl. I don’t have any information on the incident other than what’s in the two tweets, but I’m assuming something will be coming out pretty soon. ]
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