فاس نيوز ميديا جريدة الكترونية جهوية تعنى بشؤون و أخبار جهة فاس مكناس – متجددة على مدار الساعة
Paris, France – In a poignant initiative, nearly 300 Francophone writers, including two Nobel Literature laureates, Annie Ernaux and Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, have condemned the “genocide” against the population in Gaza, demanding an “immediate ceasefire.” This came in an op-ed published by the French daily Libération on Tuesday.
“Just as it was urgent to qualify the crimes committed against civilians on October 7, 2023, as war crimes and crimes against humanity, today we must name the ‘genocide’,” wrote the signatories in their article.
They added: “More than ever, we demand that sanctions be imposed on the State of Israel, we call for an immediate ceasefire – one that guarantees security and justice for Palestinians, the release of Israeli hostages, the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners arbitrarily held in Israeli prisons, and that immediately puts an end to this genocide.”
The list of signatories includes prominent figures in the literary scene, among them former Goncourt Prize winners such as Hervé Le Tellier, Jérôme Ferrari, Laurent Gaudé, Brigitte Giraud, Leïla Slimani, Lydie Salvayre, Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, Nicolas Mathieu, and Éric Vuillard.
This appeal comes amidst the ongoing Israeli military offensive on the besieged, starved, and devastated Gaza Strip for over 19 months, in response to the unprecedented attack launched by Hamas on October 7, 2023, in southern Israel. Since May 17, Israel has intensified its offensive with the aim of freeing the remaining hostages, gaining control of all of Gaza, and annihilating the Hamas movement, which has governed the strip since 2007.
The term “genocide,” vehemently rejected by Israel, divides observers of this war. Accusations are mounting from the UN, human rights groups, and an increasing number of countries.
The signatories of the op-ed believe that this qualification “is not a slogan,” refusing to “show general and objectless empathy, without qualifying this horror or specifying what it is.”
The Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data. Of the 251 people then abducted, 57 are still held hostage, including 20 “with certainty” alive, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israeli retaliation has led to at least 53,977 deaths in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the latest data from the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, which the UN considers reliable.
