U.S. Senators Report, U.S. Is Complicit in ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ in Gaza
Sept. 13—After their Aug. 24-Sept. 1 fact-finding trip to Southwest Asia Senators Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Jeff Merkley of Oregon released a report stating that Israel is acting on a systematic plan to destroy and ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza, for which they provide evidence that the U.S. is complicit. The report titled, “The Netanyahu Government Is Implementing a Plan To Ethnically Cleanse Gaza of Palestinians,” was released Sept. 11 and argues that the two senators came to the “inescapable conclusion” that the deaths of civilians in Gaza are not “collateral damage” from a war against Hamas, but rather a deliberate strategy by Israel to ethnically cleanse the local population.
The senators met with several former Israel Defense Forces soldiers, who told them in detail how they participated in the “systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure,” and gave first-hand accounts of “how this was a part of an intentional pattern of using explosives to blow up whole city blocks, houses, schools and other civilian sites.”
At a Sept. 11 press conference Senator Van Hollen described their visit to the Egyptian-Gaza border at Rafah and saw the city of 270,000 people reduced to rubble. Not allowed to enter Gaza, both senators climbed an outside fire escape from the Egyptian side of the border to see in better detail the extent of the destruction.
According to the report, humanitarian aid shipments are reduced to less than 10% of capacity due to arbitrary restrictions. Simple items such as peanut butter, honey, or dates may be suddenly banned and entire trucks turned away because they carry a single jar of peanut butter. Each truck is subject to a new $400 customs processing fee, and when a truck is forced to make a second attempt to enter Gaza without that jar of peanut butter, it must pay another $400 processing fee. Other items are banned under “dual use” [potential military and civilian use] restrictions such as water pumps, tents, wheelchairs, and spare parts for trucks.
In Egypt, the senators inspected the fleet of trucks from the United Nations which have “sustained severe damage.” The UN officials showed the senators videos of UN convoys coming under fire from the IDF, which they said was “a regular occurrence.” Also, in Egypt, the senators toured a warehouse run by the Egyptian Red Crescent and the UN World Food Program filled with humanitarian goods that had been banned by Israel.
In Israel, the senators inspected the 2,200 shipping containers of food (enough to feed the entire population of Gaza for three weeks) which sit at the Israeli port of Asdod, where they are delayed by screening requirements—each pallet must be individually screened. The senators met with the family members of several Israeli hostages held by Hamas who said that the Butcher of Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister "Bibi" Netanyahu prioritizes his own political survival over the survival of the hostages and he has blown up several peace deals which would have ended the war and released all the hostages.
At the press conference, Senator Merkley said, “The same values that made me a champion for Israel compel me to say what they are doing to the Palestinians, both in the West Bank and in Gaza, is absolutely wrong.”
Their report concludes, “The world has a moral and legal obligation to stop the ongoing ethnic cleansing. Strong words alone will not be sufficient. The world must impose penalties and costs on those carrying out this plan.”