When shame itself is ashamed! – Article by Stavri Kalopsidiotou, Member of the Cyprus Problem Office of AKEL, International Law expert and member of the Central Committee of AKEL
7 April 2024, newspaper “HARAYGI”
How heavy must the burden of peace in the Palestinian territories become? The answers are inconclusive, trapped in the shameful tolerance shown by our own domestic political forces too, who are watching without any shame as spectators in a Roman arena the uprooting, occupation, illegal imprisonment, decades of colonisation and, for the past six months, the ongoing genocide of the Palestinians, the war crimes being committed by the State of Israel in Gaza.
There is no excuse and justification however for the tolerance shown and the persistent covering-up of these crimes, at least in our own semi-occupied country, is provocative. It provokes our consciences, offends all sense of justice and dangerously makes the Republic of Cyprus a backer of an extreme right-wing government that violates fundamental principles of international law.
We are not surprised by the pathetic hypocrisy shown by the government of Nikos Christodoulides, the coalition governing parties, DISY and the fascist ELAM party. Who doesnt remember the political callousness they again displayed when NATO forces were illegally bombing Yugoslavia? Just as back then, there are still no moral, political and/or legal alibis for their positions and dangerous ideological concepts. These alibis are exposed and shattered by the ongoing ethnic cleansing, the targeted provocation of a humanitarian crisis and the rampant genocide, which are not only opposed by AKEL, but by millions of people all over the world – and deplored by dozens of international organisations and NGO’s.
The International Court of Justice in The Hague called on Israel “to take all measures within its power” to prevent acts falling within the scope of the Convention on the Prevention and Suppression of the Crime of Genocide. Underlining that Israel must ensure “with immediate effect” that its forces do not commit any of the acts falling within the scope of the Convention. A decision that should have paved the way for the imposition of sanctions against Israel, exerted diplomatic pressure and certainly create the pre conditions for additional legal proceedings and judgements, including by the International Criminal Court.
Amnesty International has persistently and repeatedly documented condemningly that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are carrying out illegal attacks, indiscriminately and deliberately targeting civilians, hospitals and homes.
That thousands of air and ground strikes in the Gaza Strip have resulted in the killing of over 32,000 Palestinians and the injury of more than 74,000.
That Israel has extended the blockade of food, water and electricity in Gaza since 9 October, and is obstructing all humanitarian aid, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis. This has been confirmed in the saddest possible way, following the recent murderous attack waged by the Israeli air force on volunteers of the NGO World Central Kitchen.
By way of illustration and not exhaustively, the above examples underline and confirm that the resolution adopted by DISY, DIKO, ELAM and DIPA parties in Parliament on the situation in Gaza represents a vulgar reversal of the dramatic reality.
The refusal to refer to Palestine, to the occupation and the colonalisation, the failure to recognise and denounce the heinous crimes being systematically and methodically committed by the State of Israel is glaring.
Their refusal to demand that the Israeli government comply with international law, the principles of humanitarian law and to respect the human rights of the Palestinians in the most elementary way, to stop the bombing – which no one dares to describe as legitimate self-defence any more – is also destroying our credibility in the struggle we are waging for the restoration of law and peace in Cyprus.
As long as they do not find any words to denounce the crimes being committed, shame itself will continue to be ashamed!
