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Emergency Event: The Background to the Israel-Palestine Crisis and the Role of the International Community
To raise awareness in Japan of the crisis in Israel and Palestine in the wake of the Hamas attacks on Israel, and in particular of the risks facing the civilian population in Gaza as Israel began its military response, Peace Boat organized an emergency event “The Background to the Israel-Palestine Crisis and the Role of the International Community” on October 15, 2023.
The event featured Peace Boat’s partner in Jerusalem, as well as Japanese experts who gave context on the crisis to the mainly Japanese audience. The event was held online and broadcast live from the Peace Boat Center in Tokyo on Youtube and Facebook with over 600 viewers live and over 6000 views after the event to date.
Peace Boat Director, Yoshioka Tatsuya, introduced proceedings by expressing the desire that international society should understand the situation and what it may be able to do to save lives in both Palestine and Israel, and to prevent action by the Israeli army in Gaza which would inevitably result in the suffering of innocent civilians. “What has the international community done to try to prevent this?” he asked. “We didn’t do enough, and this is the reality.”
Takahashi Kazuo, Professor Emeritus of The Open University of Japan and a well-known Middle East specialist, spoke about the background leading up to recent events, including the origins of Hamas. He emphasised the need for accuracy in media reporting, including the use of maps that make the current situation in the West Bank and Gaza and the extent of Israeli and Palestinian areas of control properly clear. Takahashi urged viewers to watch media reports critically, emphasising the discrepancy in military power between the Israeli Defense Forces and Hamas’ military wing.
Rami Nasser-Eddin, representative of the NGO Palestinian Vision, began his remarks by stressing the root cause of the violence: “the most important issue, and why all of this is happening: the occupation. We have been 75 years under occupation. Gaza especially, has been under siege for more than 17 years now.”
He emphasised the impact of Israel’s military response on Palestinian civilians: “No matter what Hamas did, it does not justify the incredible use of force without distinguishing between civilians and military people.
Forcible evacuation of more than one million people from their homes to another place is a war crime. Basic human rights - cutting off the water, energy, electricity, and health to people, this is also a war crime. We have left the Medieval times. We have rules of conduct for times when we are under war.
Israel should now be much more accountable. All of what they are doing is like ethnic cleansing of people all over Gaza. Two million people now are going to die.”
Nasser-Eddin urged the international community to recognise their role as complicit: “And who is responsible? Not only Israel right now. The international community is involved in this war by supporting the Israeli occupation, by their statements which are shocking to us as Palestinians living under occupation.
The international community should hold Israel accountable for what they are doing right now in front of all of them. But they are all supporting them. We are afraid that what happened in Rwanda will happen to us. Nobody will take care of us. We are left alone.
Up to now, more than 2,250 people have been killed in Gaza. What are you waiting for? To kill all of the people so you can condemn, or just to be worried as usual as the international community?”
He urged action: “What we need from you as the international community is not money, but security. We need you to be in solidarity with us. To be in action. Action on the ground, demonstrations. And to spread all that is happening to us by the Israeli violation against us.
The last thing I want to say is that we are really afraid. For the first time, I am personally afraid. This is the first time we see killings every day. I am afraid something will happen to all of us as Palestinians. In the end, we need protection. We need to live normal lives as any other human being.”
Finally, Rami made an impassioned call to the people of Japan:
“Especially for the Japanese people, you have faced Hiroshima and Nagasaki. You know exactly what I am talking about. We are afraid now that the same thing could happen to another two million Palestinian people. The difference is that this time, everybody can see it but no one can do anything.”
Peace Boat’s statement on recent events, condemning the Hamas attacks and calling for immediate release of the hostages, as well as an unconditional ceasefire, can be read here.