Bisschop Tutu weet veel van Zuid-Afrika, niet van het Israelisch-Palestijns conflict. Onterecht wordt hij echter wel gezien als autoriteit op dat gebied, alsof iemand die de problemen in eigen land goed kan oplossen automatisch ook weet hoe een heel ander conflict, met andere oorzaken en dat dus ook een andere oplossing vergt, opgelost moet worden.
He criticized the international community for failing to speak out against the suffering in Gaza, home to 1.5 million Palestinians, under an Israeli blockade.
"This silence begets complicity," he told the UN Human Rights Council.
"This silence begets complicity," he told the UN Human Rights Council.
Het westen zwijgt niet over vermeende en reële Israelische misdaden; er is een onophoudelijk luid koor dat Israel zwart maakt en alleen verantwoordelijk houdt voor het voortgaande conflict. Tutu zingt een aardig partijtje mee in dat koor en is daar blijkbaar een beetje doof van geworden. Waar over gezwegen wordt, en dat is echt een schande, is Darfoer. Daar zijn honderdduizenden onschuldige burgers omgekomen en miljoenen gevlucht. Daar is werkelijk sprake van etnische zuiveringen, vrouwen worden massaal verkracht, mannen en kinderen vermoord en dorpen met de grond gelijk gemaakt, maar het mag geen genocide heten. En nee, Darfoeriaanse zelfmoordcommando's blazen zich niet op in Kartoem, en niemand betwist het recht van Soedan om te bestaan. Waarom wordt Soedan niet harder aangepakt door de internationale gemeenschap? Waarom komt het in de Mensenrechtenraad nooit van een ondubbelzinnige veroordeling? Er is nooit een holocaust op de Soedanezen uitgevoerd, en toch dat regime vrijuit.
Tutu, toegegeven, roept ook op tot sancties tegen de Soedanese regering, maar zijn Apartheidspraat reserveert hij voor Israël. Ten onrechte, betoogde eerder dit jaar ook de Soedanese mensenrechtenactivist Simon Deng, die in Israël een veilig heenkomen vond, en daar juist niet de 'Apartheid' aantrof waarvoor hij zijn thuisland was ontvlucht.
Tutu later told a news conference: "I think the West, quite rightly, is feeling contrite, penitent, for its awful connivance with the Holocaust."
Israel wordt ondanks (of ook vanwege?) de holocaust onophoudelijk bekritiseerd. Het is het enige land waarvan het bestaansrecht geregeld wordt ontkend, en in de VN algemene vergadering en mensenrechtenraad worden geregeld dubieuze vergelijkingen gemaakt tussen Israel, een westerse democratie, en nazi-Duitsland. Maar dat is voor Tutu natuurlijk geen probleem.
Velen zeggen dat de Joden van slachtoffers in daders zijn veranderd, dat ze net zo wreed blijken als hun voormalige beulen. Ook eisen we van Israel extra moreel gedrag 'want de Joden zouden toch moeten weten wat het is om zo onderdrukt en vernederd te worden'.
In zijn eigen Zuid-Afrika werden niet lang geleden nog vluchtelingen uit Zimbabwe, die de tirannie en het wanbeleid van Mugabe ontvlucht waren, door de lokale zwarte bevolking verjaagd en vermoord. Tutu zou er beter aan doen zijn energie op zijn eigen land te richten, want in het al te complexe Midden-Oosten conflict gedraagt hij zich als een olifant in een porseleinwinkel met zijn al te gemakzuchtige en beledigende oneliners.
Eén moeilijk conflict in de wereld oplossen is ook wel genoeg in een mensenleven, toch?
Ratna & Wouter
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Tutu: World doesn't criticize Israel because of the Holocaust
By Reuters
South African Nobel Peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Thursday accused the West of complicity in Palestinian suffering by its silence, suggesting it did not want to criticize Israel because of the Holocaust.
Tutu spoke after delivering a report to the United Nations about Israel's deadly shelling of the town of Beit Hanun in Gaza in November 2006, which he said may constitute a war crime.
He criticized the international community for failing to speak out against the suffering in Gaza, home to 1.5 million Palestinians, under an Israeli blockade.
"This silence begets complicity," he told the UN Human Rights Council.
Tutu later told a news conference: "I think the West, quite rightly, is feeling contrite, penitent, for its awful connivance with the Holocaust."
"The penance is being paid by the Palestinians. I just hope again that ordinary citizens in the West will wake up and say 'we refuse to be part of this'," he said.
The Geneva-based Human Rights Council on Thursday debated the report on his fact-finding mission conducted last May, which called for an independent investigation into the Israeli strike that killed 19 Palestinians, all but one from the same family.
Tutu spoke after delivering a report to the United Nations about Israel's deadly shelling of the town of Beit Hanun in Gaza in November 2006, which he said may constitute a war crime.
He criticized the international community for failing to speak out against the suffering in Gaza, home to 1.5 million Palestinians, under an Israeli blockade.
"This silence begets complicity," he told the UN Human Rights Council.
Tutu later told a news conference: "I think the West, quite rightly, is feeling contrite, penitent, for its awful connivance with the Holocaust."
"The penance is being paid by the Palestinians. I just hope again that ordinary citizens in the West will wake up and say 'we refuse to be part of this'," he said.
The Geneva-based Human Rights Council on Thursday debated the report on his fact-finding mission conducted last May, which called for an independent investigation into the Israeli strike that killed 19 Palestinians, all but one from the same family.
The Israeli military, after carrying out its own investigation, said in February that it had directed artillery fire against the Beit Hanun area on Nov. 8 2006, on the basis of intelligence that militants were planning rocket attacks.
Israeli ambassador Aharon Leshno Yaar told the Council on Thursday: "A thorough internal investigation was conducted and the results of this investigation shared with the United Nations. Nothing can be gained by rehashing this topic now."
But Tutu, who won the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent struggle against apartheid in his homeland, said his mission never had access to the internal Israeli report.
It was regrettable that Israel had not cooperated with his team, although it admitted responsibility for the strike.
"No verifiable explanation has been offered, no independent impartial and transparent investigation has been held, no one has been held to account," Tutu said.
In talks with senior Hamas officials, Tutu said he demanded an end to the firing of rockets into Israel, saying Hamas has an obligation to respect international humanitarian law.
"Families living in Sderot have the right to live without the fear of rockets, however crude, dropping from the sky," he said.
Israel and the West tightened restrictions last year on the Gaza Strip in an attempt to isolate Hamas after its fighters seized the territory. The Islamist group opposed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' peace talks with Israel.
Palestinian ambassador Mohammad Abu-Koash said Tutu's report should be brought to the attention of both the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.
"The Israeli shelling of civilians in Beit Hanun while asleep in their homes and targeting of those fleeing is a war crime and its perpetrators must be brought before international justice," he said in a speech.
Israeli ambassador Aharon Leshno Yaar told the Council on Thursday: "A thorough internal investigation was conducted and the results of this investigation shared with the United Nations. Nothing can be gained by rehashing this topic now."
But Tutu, who won the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent struggle against apartheid in his homeland, said his mission never had access to the internal Israeli report.
It was regrettable that Israel had not cooperated with his team, although it admitted responsibility for the strike.
"No verifiable explanation has been offered, no independent impartial and transparent investigation has been held, no one has been held to account," Tutu said.
In talks with senior Hamas officials, Tutu said he demanded an end to the firing of rockets into Israel, saying Hamas has an obligation to respect international humanitarian law.
"Families living in Sderot have the right to live without the fear of rockets, however crude, dropping from the sky," he said.
Israel and the West tightened restrictions last year on the Gaza Strip in an attempt to isolate Hamas after its fighters seized the territory. The Islamist group opposed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' peace talks with Israel.
Palestinian ambassador Mohammad Abu-Koash said Tutu's report should be brought to the attention of both the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.
"The Israeli shelling of civilians in Beit Hanun while asleep in their homes and targeting of those fleeing is a war crime and its perpetrators must be brought before international justice," he said in a speech.
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