Every day since Oct. 7 last year, the world has watched an unprecedented wave of violence rain down on Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories — more than 200 days of constant suffering and death in Gaza with just a seven-day pause. Many of us in the American expatriate community in Taiwan have been watching this tragedy unfold in horror.
We know we are implicated with every US-made “dumb” bomb dropped on a civilian target and by the diplomatic cover our government gives to the Israeli government, which has only gotten more extreme with such impunity.
Meantime, multicultural coalitions of US university students have been camping out on their campuses, risking their standing at these prestigious institutions. Some have faced rubber bullets, tear gas and arrest, as police and state troopers have been called in to “clear out” these unarmed youth who are trying to engage in the kind of challenging discourse academia should promote and protect. Their generation is bravely demanding that the collective punishment leveled at the civilians of Gaza finally stop.
Being so far away from home, we watch all of this and wonder what more we can do. Some of us have been involved with Taiwanese and other international friends in educational events, peaceful marches, making posts on social media and appealing to our government representatives back home.
We believe it is our responsibility, and not just our right, to use our freedom of speech. In the past two weeks, we have reached out to our American friends and contacts asking them to add their names to a community letter directed to the official office of our government in Taiwan, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). More than 100 Americans living in Taiwan responded and lent their names. On Thursday last week, we posted the letter in the mail to the AIT, which agreed to receive our letter and pass it to the US Department of State, though they replied that they could not meet with us.
We know the AIT typically handles mundane issues like passport renewals and broader issues like trade relationships. Therefore, our unusual outreach to them about the Israel-Palestine crisis is evidence of how grave we believe this situation to be. After all, the International Court of Justice in January ruled that there is a “plausible” case of genocide in Gaza and appealed to all parties to do everything possible to prevent such a travesty.
We turned to Amnesty International, a trusted international human rights non-governmental organization for guidance on our demands. Our letter to the AIT echoes Amnesty’s calls for an immediate ceasefire, the lifting of restrictions on humanitarian aid into Gaza, an end to the indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks on civilians, the unconditional release of hostages, a suspension of arms transfers to Israel, an end to the 16-year illegal blockade of Gaza and an end to the occupation of the Palestinian Territories, which has prevented all people from living in dignity and peace.
As global citizens, and not just Americans, we encourage everyone living in Taiwan to appeal to their home governments to raise our collective voices more loudly. The UN Genocide Convention, introduced on the heels of the Holocaust in 1948, legally defines genocide as a crime against humanity and compels everyone everywhere to prevent it. More than 150 countries have ratified this treaty, including the US, Israel and the Republic of China. One in 700 Gazans have been killed, including more than 14,000 children. People are starving, despite thousands of trucks full of food waiting to get through checkpoints. Much of Gaza has been razed, yet the end is not yet in sight. This is a time for moral clarity. We must keep demanding action.
Laura Moye is a human rights activist and teacher living in Taichung.
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