In the current global turmoil of revenge and war, Australians want to see political leaders speaking about humanity and negotiation, not the old rhetoric which chooses winners and losers. In the following letter to party leaders in the House of Representatives and the Senate, we urge all parliamentarians to support their leaders by making their own “Personal Statements of Humanity” in their communities as well as in the Parliament or on their websites.
Dear Political Leaders,
Life in Gaza & on West Bank: Political Leaders Invited to Interpret Humanity
To influence thinking about Gaza, the West Bank and Israel, and to question assumptions about the benefits of Australia’s alliance with Israel, we invite you to make your own “Personal Statement of Humanity” at the next parliamentary session, October 8, 9, 10 and/or include your “Statement of Humanity” on your website.
We make this request for the following reasons.
Massive evidence of death and destruction in Gaza and on the West Bank has not encouraged leaders of the Labor government and the Coalition to abandon their support for Israel. The slaughter of Palestinians continues, so does Australia’s failure to condemn Israel for ignoring international law, particularly in the maintenance of an illegal occupation of Palestinian land, for committing war crimes and, in the judgement of distinguished barristers Greg Barns and Paul Heywood-Smith, ‘perpetuating genocide by any definition.’
On March 28 this year, a Gaza Plea for Humanity, supported by 5000 signatures, was presented in the Federal parliament. This initiative occurred when Israel in Gaza was continuing its slaughter, maiming, starvation, displacement, detention, torture, destruction of hospitals, schools, universities, mosques, churches, banks, homes and civil infrastructure.
This March meeting pleaded for the recognition of the State of Palestine, argued for a permanent ceasefire, for ending the siege of Gaza, for the return of all hostages and the development of Australian plans for peace with justice in which Palestinians from all walks of life would take a lead.
Six months later, none of those requests have been met but the consequences of war are glaringly obvious. In Gaza an estimated 41,000 people, a majority of them women and children have been killed. Disregard of life is evident in the deaths of 289 aid workers, over 1,000 health staff and 127 journalists. No hospital in Gaza remains fully functioning. On the West Bank, over 600 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military or by marauding settlers.
In a Gaza population of 2.1 million, 1.9 million are displaced.
Devastation extends beyond the number of known deaths. An estimated 10,000 people remain buried beneath the 39 million tons of debris left by Israeli bombardment. Soil, air and water are polluted, supply of clean water limited, health care agencies barely operate, sanitation systems are destroyed. Garbage contaminates streets. No one is surprised that these hell on earth conditions contribute to sickness and disease.
The massive death toll is supposedly caused by Israeli military precision, their targeted killings having no intention to ever kill civilians. Night after night Israeli spokespersons make these claims and are left unchallenged. Millions watch powerless. Business as usual means that starving Gazans continue to live in fear and tomorrow’s news will report more of the same.
Your responses to the question, ‘what is meant by humanity?’ could nullify the public’s fatalism that nothing they do or say makes a difference.
We perceive humanity as a reaffirmation of the values of love, kindness, friendship, solidarity, trust and humour. In response to authoritarianism, and to governments’ abuses of power, such values offer life enhancing ways of thinking and living, in particular regarding a peaceful future for children. Avoiding cruelty to future generations could be a policy priority if humane governance prevailed and guaranteed respect for universal human rights.
Leaving contemporary politics aside, philosophers and poets have bequeathed their interpretations of humanity. Immanuel Kant recommended, ‘Treat humanity never as a means always as an end.’ French diplomat Stephane Hessel wrote, ‘If you are not outraged by injustice, you lose touch with your own humanity.’ Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore equated humanity with ‘The identity of the universe, a proud harmony of all races.’ Australian Oodgeroo Noonuccal, advised, ‘I’m for human kind not colour gibes, I’m international never mind tribes, I’m international never mind place, I’m for humanity all one race.’
If lessons from history were acknowledged, humanitarian perspectives might gain traction in political circles in particular regarding commentary about terrorism.
The anniversary of the October 7, 2023 Hamas killings is approaching and there should be no forgetting those horrific events. But the record of history, let alone respect for humanity, also requires acknowledgement of Israeli terrorist acts which occurred long before 2023.
Ill informed politicians and media outlets have behaved as though terrorism in the Israel Palestine context began with Hamas in October 2023. This false reading of history ignores the expulsion of more than 750,000 Palestinians from their lands in 1948, and Israel’s refusal to allow them to return to their cities and towns, the decades long occupation of Palestine and successive Israeli slaughters of Palestinian men, women and children. The scale of death and destruction carried out by Israeli forces dwarfs the numbers killed by Hamas in the 2023 breakout, but such commentary is stifled. Political and media preoccupation with Hamas has ensured that Israeli illegalities and violence can be ignored.
If a history of ethnic cleansing in Palestine was acknowledged, and if Australian governments replaced their appeasement of Israel with vigorous defence of Palestinians’ human rights, humanitarian perspectives could influence Canberra discussion of foreign policy.
Australian politicians’ silence regarding atrocities committed by Israel, regarding the ICJ rulings on a ‘plausible genocide’ and the advisory opinion on the consequences of the occupation, have been made even more inexplicable by Australia’s cowardly abstention on the recent UN resolution seeking an end to Israel’s unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestine Territory. The Opposition leader even boasted that he would have opposed that resolution.
Given the above, given that the anniversary of October 7 2023 is only a few days away, it would be helpful and reassuring to read your “Personal Statement of Humanity”, as referred to in the beginning of this letter.
With Best Wishes,
Professor Stuart Rees AM., former Senator Margaret Reynolds, with & on behalf of:
Greg Barns
Alison Broinowski
Paul Heywood-Smith
Ali Kazak
Mary Kostakidis
Helen McCue
John Menadue
Stuart Rees
Margaret Reynolds
Read our collection of articles on Israel and Palestine.
Stuart Rees AM is Professor Emeritus at the University of Sydney & recipient of the Jerusalem (Al Quds) Peace Prize.
Margaret Reynolds has a long commitment to the peace movement dating back to the Anti-Vietnam Moratorium to current advocacy against militarism as National President of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.(Australia )
She was a Labor Senator for Queensland 1983-1999 and a member of Bob Hawke’s Ministry 1987-1990. She taught Human Rights and International Relations at University of Queensland 1999-2004 and has worked with a number of international non-government organisations.