World Complicit in Gaza Shame: Tutu
GAZA CITY — Shocked by "scary" scenes in Gaza after months of Israeli and Western sanctions, Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu denounced on Thursday, May 29, the international community's complicity in the suffering of the Gaza people.
"My message to the international community is that our silence and complicity, especially on the situation in Gaza, shames us all," Tutu told a new conference at the end of a three-day UN fact-finding mission.
The longtime anti-apartheid and peace activist said he was shocked by how the coastal strip has become "desolate and scary" as a result of fuel and basic goods shortage.
"No people were in the streets. We were struck particularly by the absence of the sound of children playing or waving to (my) motorcade, like other countries," said the retired Anglican archbishop of Cape Town.
He urged Israel to left the long-running blockade of the territory, home to 1.6 million Palestinians, and the world community to end its economic boycott.
"Gaza needs the engagement of the outside world, especially its peacemakers."
Israel has been closing Gaza Strip's exits to the outside world since Hamas took control of the territory last June.
It has completely locked down the area since January, banning food and fuel shipment supplies.
This coincides with a continued US-led Western economic boycott since Palestinians elected Hamas to power in the 2006 elections.
War Crimes
Ending a three-day UN fact-finding mission, Tutu condemned the Israeli killing of 18 members of a Palestinian family in 2006 in the northern town of Beit Hanun.
"We are at the stage of shock...by what we subsequently heard from the survivors of the Beit Hanoun massacre."
Tutu hoped his team's report, to be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, would help find a way to protect Palestinian civilians from further Israeli assaults.
The UN team circumvented Israeli restrictions by entering the Palestinian territory through the crossing with Egypt, which was opened especially for them, to investigate the killing.
After an internal investigation, the Israeli army announced in February that no charges would be brought against any soldier over the attack.
"I think what we've seen shows plenty of evidence of at least the possibility of war crimes that needs much further independent investigation," said British professor Christine Chinkin.
Israel has been mounting air strikes on the Strip since last February.
In March, a deadly ground and air offensive killed more than 125 people in a week, including more than 20 children, toddlers and newborn babies.
