Today the Polish Solidarity Campaign with Palestine (Kampania Palestyna)and the Polish Stop the War Initiative protested the invitation of General Eitan Dangot, Israelâs Military Co-ordinator of Government Activities in the (occupied) Territories to present at the Polish Institute of International Affairs.
The Institute is a government think-tank providing platforms for experts to inform government policy on international relations. The meeting was jointly organised and sponsored by the Israeli government through the Israeli Embassy in Warsaw.
Major General Dangotâs lecture was shut down to the public by the Institute in response to Kampania Palestyna and Stop the Warâs protest.
A few hours beforehand, another group of human rights activists had graffitied the exterior of the building with slogans of solidarity with the occupied Palestinian people.
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The words: Eitan Dangot Criminal, a billboard poster of âApartheid Isrealâ, a graphic accompanying the words âIsraeli Apartheidâ and Black Power style raised fists in the colours of the Palestinian flag greeted the General, Israeli Embassy entourage and Institute organisers on the
morning of the talk.
The spokesman of the Israeli embassy in Warsaw, quoted by a right-wing daily newspaper âRzeczpospolitaâ, expressed outrage at this treatment of âa soldier who defends his countryâ.
The protest had shown General Dangot that he was not welcome in Poland, and forced the Israeli embassy and Institute to justify their decision to invite him.
Dangot was Head of the Strategic Planning Division in the IDF Planning Directorate (1991-2001), Home Front Command Execute Officer (2001-2004), and Military Secretary of the Minister of Defence (2004-2009)before being appointed Co-ordinator of Government Activities in the (occupied) Territories. Dangot clearly has a history of forming and
carrying out policies and practices that violate international humanitarian and human rights law in the context of Israelâs illegal occupation.
These include violation of: the Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (1976); The Fourth Geneva Convention (1949) Art 49 regarding transfer of an occupying powersâcivilian population into the territory it occupies; The Right to Life, article 6 of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966; Fourth Geneva Convention (1949), Art 33, Prohibiting collective punishment of a civilian population; and Articles 53 and 147 on deliberate and wanton
destruction of personal and state property not justified by military necessity.
These as well as numerous European Union laws have been violated by Israelâs policy of founding illegal colonies on Palestinian territories as well as the land, sea and aerial blockade on Gaza, plus numerous military operations which have targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure and property, Israelâs policy of extra-judicial execution and the continued building of the illegal separation barrier (wall) inside occupied Palestinian territory.
Kampania Palestyna issued a statement explaining, âMajor General Dangot should be standing in the dock answering charges of war crimes, not standing in a Polish government-sponsored institution answering questions on foreign policyâ.
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Statement of the Polish Palestine Solidarity Campaign on Lecture by Israeli General Eitan Dangot, Hosted by the Polish Institute of International Affairs
This week, the Polish Institute of International Affairs, an official advisory body to the Polish government, is hosting a lecture by the Israeli general Eitan Dangot, IDFâs Coordinator of Government Activities in the Occupied
Palestinian Territories.
The decision to invite general Dangot undermines the PIIAâs credibility as a state-level organization, charged with providing a dependable, unbiased analysis of international issues to Polish policy-makers. The very title of the speech, âPolitical and Economic Security in the Territories (West Bank and Gaza Strip): Current Situation and Assessmentâ is misleading and manipulative, as it supplants the name âOccupied Palestinian Territoriesâ with the generic noun âTerritoriesâ, missing the key descriptor: âoccupiedâ.
General Dangot is also known for his statements regarding the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli assault on the Freedom Flotilla in May 2010, which flagrantly contradict reports published by the UN and numerous human rights organizations1. To cast as an expert a high-ranking officer of the Israeli Army, one responsible for implementing his governmentâs military agenda, i.e. the occupation and attendant activities in the Occupied
Palestinian Territories, which multiple reports of UN investigative committees and independent human rights organizations unreservedly consider war crimes, discredits the PIIA and dishonors its personnel.
The PIIAâs outrageous choice of a speaker brings ill repute to Polish diplomacy and compromises the credibility of Polish foreign policy. Extending an invitation to an official directly responsible for the military component of
the occupational regime in East Jerusalem, in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip contradicts Polandâs multiple declarations of support for the resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly of the United Nations (in particular, the UN Security Councilâs resolution no. 242), which unequivocally condemn and demand an unconditional and immediate end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian land. Moreover, it weakens Polandâs standing in the international arena. The Republic of Poland is a signatory
to the Geneva Conventions, The Hague Conventions, the Helsinki Accords and other international human rights treaties, as well as the Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court. A co-founder of these
major cornerstones of international law, Poland is obliged to observe and execute them without hesitation. These obligations are not optional. They are not subject to the political will of an incumbent government. They are
not determined by political or economic expediencies. Poland has made an unconditional commitment to these values. Upholding the law is not a matter of preference, nor does it merit an award; it is merely a duty.
Israelâs occupation of Palestinian land violates multiple laws at the core of the international system of justice. In particular, it contravenes laws against collective punishment (article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention),
against the colonization of occupied territories with displacement of the local population and expropriation of its natural resources (article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention), against restricting the freedom of movement
and access to education, medical services, culture and gainful employment in the occupied territories (articles 55, 56 and multiple other articles of the Fourth Geneva Convention), against torture (United Nations Convention
Against Torture and article 3 of the Fourth Geneva Convention), against the assassination of Palestinian political leaders (article 3 of the Fourth Geneva Convention). In contravention of international law, Israel has incarcerated outside of the Occupied Territories, without charge and without due process, ten thousand Palestinian political prisoners, including juveniles,
democratically elected members of parliament and hundreds of others (in violation of section IV of the Fourth Geneva Convention). Similarly, Israelâs West Bank Barrier (known also as the apartheid wall) is being built in violation
of international statutes, according to the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice.
In his report submitted recently to the UN General Assembly, Special Rapporteur on the Situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territories Richard Falk states: âThis view is furthered by the apartheid features of the
occupation based on dual and discriminatory legal structure for the occupied Palestinians and the unlawfully present settler population, the restrictions on Palestinian mobility, permit and residence manipulations, and roads on
which Palestinians are disallowed. To indicate these apartheid features is not intended to set up a comparison with apartheid South Africa, but to call attention to the anti-apartheid norm embodied in the Convention Against
the Crime of Apartheid, and then incorporated into the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (1998) that in Article 7 made apartheid a distinct crime against humanityâ
Given this context, hosting a lecture by general Dangot appears to be an attempt at officially legitimizing the systematic violations of the international law, humanitarian law, the law of armed conflict and collective human rights, which have become part and parcel of Israeli policy. In the eyes of the world Poland once again positions itself in the âgrey zoneâ of international law, as
a country which is not only a willing host to illegal, secret detention camps serving the needs of a foreign intelligence, but whose official, state-sponsored
institutions extend a warm welcome to foreign executives suspected of having committed war crimes.
We demand that Polish authorities put an immediate end to these disgraceful practices. We demand that, rather than honoring those who administer a system of repression, colonization, ethnic cleansing and apartheid, they fulfill
their international obligations by pressuring the Israeli government to abide by the rules of international law and by the UN resolutions. Equally, Polish authorities must make every effort to bring to justice those responsible for
human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
https://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/idf-general-no-justification-for-gaza-aid-flotilla-1.311273
Polish Palestine Solidarity Campaign
29 November 2010