WASHINGTON, March 31, 2018 (WAFA) - The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) said on Friday that it was outraged over Israel’s unrestrained use of live fire against Palestinian civilians participating in peaceful marches.
Israeli snipers stationed at the border with Gaza opened fire and killed 15 Palestinian civilians on Friday and injured over 1400 others who were participating in a march calling for the right of refugees to return to their homes and lands they were expelled from in 1948.
“ADC is outraged that Israel would authorize snipers to use live fire against unarmed civilians,” the Arab American group said in a statement. “Israel’s callous disregard for the lives of Palestinians exemplifies, once again, the brutal reality of more than 50 years of military occupation and apartheid.”
It added: “Israel will portray its lethal force as ‘self-defense’ and the deaths due to Palestinian ‘provocation,’ but those not blinded by self-serving propaganda will be able to recognize that a nation already oppressing a people cannot engage in self-defense but only repression when those people dare to rise up. And, for Israel, any Palestinian act that dares to peacefully resist occupation and its attendant indignities and humiliations is a ‘provocation’ against its ‘right’ to be the Palestinians’ interminable overlord.”
ADC called on the United States, the main provider of weapons, aid and protection for Israel, to uphold its own principles and respect for human rights in its relationship with Israel.
“There is a high cost to America‘s global reputation and interests when US-funded arms are used to kill innocent Palestinian civilians. Moreover, US military aid to Israel violates the Leahy Law which prohibits the transfer of arms to security forces that violate human rights,” it said. “Numerous Palestinian, Israeli, and international human rights organizations have documented violations, but political pressure has prevented the State Department from upholding US law. It is long past time for the US government to practice fidelity to its own laws and respect human rights in its relationship with Israel.”
M.K.
