Hold Israel accountable for war crimes

Does the world need an overdue Amnesty International report to know that Israel has committed war crimes in Gaza? Israel has been boasting about war crimes in Gaza, the West Bank (do we have to mention Jenin?) and Lebanon for the past four decades.

The report "urged" Israel not to use "artillery, white phosphorus and other imprecise weapons in densely populated areas". Otherwise, Hamas shares equal responsibility of the massive number of deaths in the Israeli war on Gaza in December and January, according to the report.

Amnesty perhaps thinks it has done justice to the Palestinians in Gaza by confirming what everybody knew all along - Israel has committed war crimes. But Amnesty has not done so.

Justice will be done when Israel is held accountable. Justice will be done when the Palestinians get rid of one of the most ruthless and bloody occupations in the history of mankind.

But looking at the real facts on the ground, one can see that the prospect of having an independent Palestinian state has never been so elusive.

Israel continues to implement its plan of killing any hope of a political settlement that could lead to the creation of a Palestinian state by confiscating more land, demolishing houses and taking over complete neighbourhoods in the eastern part of Occupied Jerusalem.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday demanded that Israeli colony-building in the West Bank stop, saying it "endangered efforts to achieve a two-state solution". The US said a vaguely similar thing. The international community knows the Israeli plan and has been watching idly as more colonies are built in the Occupied Territories.

The Israelis say they will not stop. The international community knows Israel will not stop. In how many languages should Israel say it for the world to understand that Israel is not interested in peace? And more importantly, what is the world doing about it?