Activists call for UN military intervention in Gaza

   By Reginald Johnson

  A group of pro-Palestinian activists are leading a campaign to push the United Nations to intervene in Gaza.

 Led by former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, the coalition wants the General Assembly to use a little-known process called “Uniting for Peace” to send a peacekeeping force to Gaza to protect civilians, ensure that food supplies are reaching the people and impose an embargo on military aid to Israel.

 The General Assembly used the Uniting for Peace resolution once before in 1956, when the assembly forced Israel, Britain and France to withdraw their troops from the Sinai during the Suez Canal dispute with Egypt.

 By invoking the process, the General Assembly is able to circumvent the Security Council where the United States has repeatedly used its veto power to block any punitive action against Israel.

 Members of the coalition called Lifeline for Palestine believe they have the votes to reach the two thirds majority needed to invoke the Uniting for Peace provision.

 “This is an unprecedented opportunity,” said Stein. “We do have the power to end the genocide and we should not accept powerlessness.”

 September 18th (Thursday) is the one year anniversary of the General Assembly voting by a 10 to 1 margin for a resolution demanding that Israel withdraw its forces from the Gaza Strip, or face UN penalties.

 Thursday will see a “Global Day of Action” on ending the war in Gaza, including a march and rally starting outside the public library at 41^st Street and Fifth Avenue in New York City, beginning at 12 noon. The musician and activist Roger Waters will perform.

 It is almost two years since the Gaza war began, touched off by an attack on Israel by Hamas militants, which left 1200 Israelis dead. Since then, Israel has waged a brutal and unrelenting military campaign, which has left by official counts 65,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, dead. But recent calculations by researchers put the death toll as high as 680,000. Most of Gaza's infrastructure, including hospitals and schools have been heavily damaged or destroyed. Blocks of high-rise housing have been leveled.

 Meanwhile, people have starved to death because Israel has impeded the supply of food aid.

 The World Court and human rights organizations have labeled the Israeli campaign a genocide.

  Craig Mokhiber, a former human rights official with the UN, said that if the General Assembly votes to approve an intervention through the Uniting for Peace process, Israel has no right to block the action, according to a previous World Court ruling.

  "Israel has no right to refuse or obstruct," Mokhiber said.

 The coalition is also asking that the UN remove Israel's credentials as a General Assembly member; reactivation of the UN's long-dormant anti-apartheid mechanism; and establishment of a war crimes tribunal.

 Endorsing the Lifeline for Palestine campaign include the following organizations: CODE Pink; Doctors Against Genocide; various Green Party chapters; and a number of state and local peace organizations.

   (For more information go to lifelineforpalestine.com)