Nearly 400 British and Irish writers have labelled the Israeli attacks against Palestinians in Gaza as genocide, denouncing the silence and inaction surrounding what they call an unfolding atrocity, reports Anadolu Agency.
The use of “genocide” to describe what is happening in Gaza is no longer debated by international legal experts or human rights organisations, the 380 writers said in an open letter published late Tuesday.
Jeanette Winterson, Ian McEwan, Zadie Smith, and Irvine Welsh are among the signatories from England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Ireland urging “our nations and the peoples of the world to join us in ending our collective silence and inaction.”
“Palestinians are not the body_abstract victims of a body_abstract war. Too often, words have been used to justify the unjustifiable, deny the undeniable, defend the indefensible,” the letter said.
Declaring they refuse to be a “public of bystander-approvers,” the writers stressed the issue goes beyond human rights, touching on their “moral fitness as the writers of our time.”
“Just as it is true to call the atrocities committed by Hamas against innocent civilians on 7 October 2023 crimes of war and crimes against humanity, so today it is true to name the attack on the people of Gaza an atrocity of genocide,” the letter added, arguing that Israel is committing war crimes daily.
The letter mentioned their “absolute opposition to and loathing of antisemitism, of anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli prejudice.”
“We reject and abhor attacks, hate and violence – in writing, speech and action – against Palestinian, Israeli, and Jewish people in all and any form.
“We stand in solidarity with the resistance of Palestinian, Jewish, and Israeli people to the genocidal policies of the current Israeli government.”
The letter called for the immediate, unrestricted distribution of food and medical aid throughout Gaza by the UN, sanctions on Israel, a ceasefire guaranteeing safety and justice for all Palestinians, the release of all Israeli hostages and the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
“This genocide implicates us all. We bear witness to the crimes of genocide, and we refuse to approve them by our silence,” the letter concluded.
