Hamas Official Calls For International Justice Against U.S. and Israel

(raimd.wordpress.com)

Speaking in Malaysia, a senior Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, called for the United States and Israel to be brought to trial for widespread destruction in the Gaza Strip. The charges stem from Israel’s 22-day assault on Gaza, which killed over 1,300 Palestinians.

Efforts are underway to gather evidence against the two criminal states, Zuhri said. During the conflict Israel used white phosphorus, which caused a number of structure fires including one to a food warehouse. In another example of Israel’s flagrant disregard for even bourgeois norms of war, a school received sustained shelling, killing 42 people including women and children.  Such occurrences and more were all too common.

While Zuhri’s proclamations are certainly righteous, they propagate a common misjudgment. Attempting to challenge the U.S. and Israel through their own institutions and by their rules is a dead end. The United Nations and International Criminal Court exist solely to perpetuate and reinforce the current order. Neither are conduits for justice for those directly under the boot of imperialist aggression. While Zuhri specifically encouraged private civil suits against Israeli forces and their backers, it is guaranteed such actions will lead to little long term success.

Hamas and all other representatives of people resisting imperialist oppression and exploitation must join together in creating a new international order. Only through the building of alternative institutions of the oppressed and the displacement of those championed by imperialism can the people of Palestine, and those of the world, come to fully realize justice and equality.

In the wake of Israel’s most recent attacks, support for Hamas, both in Occupied Palestine and internationally, has improved. Zuhri’s remarks came at a press conference after receiving a donation of over $250,000.

Sources:

http://210.19.40.5/ssig/news/fullnews.php?news_id=45695&news_cat=ts

http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/02/03/65655.html

http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Israeli-39phosphorous-shells39-incinerate-1000s.4883418.jp

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&Do=&ID=35536