Harsh reality of onslaught

Despite attempts by Israel and its apologists to smear Goldstone as biased against Israel or being some kind of self-hating Jew, the facts are clear.

As a member of South Africa's Jewish community, he always regarded himself as a friend of Israel, but the harsh reality of the military onslaught that was unleashed in December 2008 for a month forced him to take a stand.

He condemned the retaliation by Hamas and other Palestinian resistance groups, launching rudimentary rockets against Israeli towns, but the weight of his judgement was directed against the Israeli Defence Force.

The Goldstone report catalogued Israel's use of white phosphorus and high explosive artillery shells against civilian targets, branding such conduct "violations of humanitarian law."

It found that Israel had employed a policy that involved "the direct targeting and arbitrary killing of Palestinian civilians," that Israel had used weapons proscribed by international law, that the Israeli military had carried out a "deliberate and sustained" attack upon civilian targets such as private homes, food installations and water treatment works and that "the mission is of the view that some of the actions of the government of Israel might justify a competent court finding that crimes against humanity have been committed."

Israel has, with customary arrogance, refused to carry out its own robust investigation into its troops' conduct in Gaza.

Tel Aviv simply ignores critical voices and relies upon its allies, principally the US but including the European Union, to quash demands for action against this expansionist and racist state.

United Nations teams on the ground in Gaza have pressed unsuccessfully for Israel to lift its blockade and allow construction materials into the territory to rebuild what Israel systematically destroyed.

Their pleas have fallen on deaf ears, while EU member states have pledged humanitarian aid to Palestinians but done nothing to tackle Israeli intransigence that undermines any good intentions.

The Goldstone Report will be debated in the European Parliament tomorrow and British MEPs should be left in no doubt whatsoever what is expected of them by their electors.

Most people will be unaware who their MEP is, but this is easily discovered through the website www.writetothem.com

Concerned voters should email MEPs directly, asking them to support immediate and full implementation of the Goldstone Report and to demand accountability for all violations of international law committed by Israel in its war on Gaza.

They should back unconditional, immediate and sustained opening of the crossings into Gaza, including from the sea.

And MEPs should vote to remove Hamas from the EU terrorist list, as former US president Jimmy Carter demanded of President Barack Obama last year.

Palestinians voted for Hamas as their government in democratic elections deemed free and fair by international observers and their reward was for the 1.5 million inhabitants of Gaza to be subjected to an inhuman blockade ever since.

There should also be no upgrading of the EU-Israel Association Agreement until Israel agrees to end its occupation and ethnic cleansing of occupied Palestinian land, including east Jerusalem.