The world must stop standing idle while the people of Gaza are treated with such cruelty

The world is witnessing a terrible human rights crime in Gaza, where
a million and a half human beings are being imprisoned with almost no
access to the outside world. An entire population is being brutally
punished.

This gross mistreatment of the Palestinians in Gaza was
escalated dramatically by Israel, with United States backing, after
political candidates representing Hamas won a majority of seats in the
Palestinian Authority parliament in 2006. The election was unanimously
judged to be honest and fair by all international observers.

Israel
and the US refused to accept the right of Palestinians to form a unity
government with Hamas and Fatah and now, after internal strife, Hamas
alone controls Gaza. Forty-one of the 43 victorious Hamas candidates
who lived in the West Bank have been imprisoned by Israel, plus an
additional 10 who assumed positions in the short-lived coalition
cabinet.

Regardless of one’s choice in the partisan struggle
between Fatah and Hamas within occupied Palestine, we must remember
that economic sanctions and restrictions on the supply of water, food,
electricity and fuel are causing extreme hardship among the innocent
people in Gaza, about one million of whom are refugees.

Israeli
bombs and missiles periodically strike the area, causing high
casualties among both militants and innocent women and children. Prior
to the highly publicised killing of a woman and her four children last
week, this pattern had been illustrated by a report from B’Tselem, the
leading Israeli human rights organisation, which stated that 106
Palestinians were killed between February 27 and March 3. Fifty-four of
them were civilians, and 25 were under 18 years of age.

On a
recent trip through the Middle East, I attempted to gain a better
understanding of the crisis. One of my visits was to Sderot, a
community of about 20,000 in southern Israel that is frequently struck
by rockets fired from nearby Gaza. I condemned these attacks as
abominable acts of terrorism, since most of the 13 victims during the
past seven years have been non-combatants.

Subsequently, I met
with leaders of Hamas – a delegation from Gaza and the top officials in
Damascus. I made the same condemnation to them, and urged that they
declare a unilateral ceasefire or orchestrate with Israel a mutual
agreement to terminate all military action in and around Gaza for an
extended period.

They responded that such action by them in the
past had not been reciprocated, and they reminded me that Hamas had
previously insisted on a ceasefire throughout Palestine, including Gaza
and the West Bank, which Israel had refused. Hamas then made a public
proposal of a mutual ceasefire restricted to Gaza, which the Israelis
also rejected.

There are fervent arguments heard on both sides
concerning blame for a lack of peace in the Holy Land. Israel has
occupied and colonised the Palestinian West Bank, which is
approximately a quarter the size of the nation of Israel as recognised
by the international community. Some Israeli religious factions claim a
right to the land on both sides of the Jordan river, others that their
205 settlements of some 500,000 people are necessary for “security”.

All
Arab nations have agreed to recognise Israel fully if it will comply
with key United Nations resolutions. Hamas has agreed to accept any
negotiated peace settlement between the president of the Palestinian
Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, and Israel’s prime minister, Ehud Olmert,
provided it is approved in a referendum of the Palestinian people.

This
holds promise of progress, but despite the brief fanfare and positive
statements at the peace conference last November in Annapolis, the
process has gone backwards. Nine thousand new Israeli housing units
have been announced in Palestine; the number of roadblocks within the
West Bank has increased; and the stranglehold on Gaza has been
tightened.

It is one thing for other leaders to defer to the US
in the crucial peace negotiations, but the world must not stand idle
while innocent people are treated cruelly. It is time for strong voices
in Europe, the US, Israel and elsewhere to speak out and condemn the
human rights tragedy that has befallen the Palestinian people.

· Jimmy Carter, a former president of the United States, is founder of The Carter Center project-syndicate.org