Situation in Gaza – Letter from Iran

Letter dated 31 December 2008 from the Chargé d’affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council

Pursuant to the previous communications by this Mission, I wish to draw your attention to the continued horrific carnage and the abhorrent crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Zionist regime in the Gaza Strip, as a result of which hundreds of innocent men, women and children have been so far massacred. The Israeli atrocities in Gaza are continuing unabated and have further pushed the curtain of deception from the criminal face of the said regime. The world community is yet again witnessing unprecedented terrorist and criminal acts committed by the Israeli regime, in full impunity, against the innocent Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, in violation of the most basic principles of international law and international humanitarian law.

What is happening in Gaza now is by all indications a clear example of crimes against humanity and genocide and should be seriously and urgently dealt with by the relevant international judicial forums. The Zionist regime is targeting every human being, every house and every infrastructure in Gaza. Mosques, hospitals, medicine and food stores and even farms and private houses of the people are callously bombarded and women, men and children are slaughtered in their beds, in their homes and everywhere on the streets. These are among the crimes that have been unprecedented in mankind’s history. The Israeli war criminals should be brought to justice for the crimes they have perpetrated, and continue to perpetrate, and for the outrageous and brutal pain and torment they have inflicted, and continue to inflict, on the innocent people in Gaza.

After having inhumanely starved a whole population, the said regime is now cold-bloodedly slaughtering them. The horrendous situation in Gaza is very grave and moving to any free and noble human being in any corner of the world. By its inhumane and terrorist policies and practices against the innocent people of Gaza, the Israeli regime has turned the New Year celebrations into death and destruction for the innocent people of Gaza, and into mourning, anguish and untold pain and grief for every civilized human being across the globe. Today the heart of the international community is overwhelmed with sorrow and outrage over the bloodshed and massacre carried out by the said regime, and about the protracted and crippling blockade it has imposed on Gaza.

Once again, by its barbaric actions, the Israeli regime has challenged the credibility of the international community and the civilized world, and the most basic values for which the civilized world stands are at stake. The world community should take united and urgent measures to put an end to the current Israeli crimes against humanity in Gaza.

The Security Council must take urgent and effective measures to stop this carnage and to help alleviate the sufferings of the people in the Gaza Strip. The Council must adopt a binding resolution. Time is overdue. Action needs to be taken and it should be taken urgently and decisively.

And finally, needless to say, the Israeli regime’s move in raising allegations and distortions against others, as the said regime did against my country in the 6060th meeting of the Council on 31 December 2008, are futile and tired practices to distract attention from the appalling crimes of this regime in the Gaza Strip. We reject these baseless allegations. Undoubtedly no amount of deception or distortion can cloud the obvious fact that the Israeli regime is threatening not only the peace and stability of the world but also the most fundamental basis upon which the civilized world is based.

I would be grateful if you could bring the present letter to the attention of the members of the Security Council and to circulate it as a document of the Council.