File spoon-archives/bhaskar.archive/bhaskar_2001/bhaskar.0105, message 22


From: "Gush Shalom (Israeli Peace Bloc)" <info-AT-gush-shalom.org>
Date: Sun, 6 May 2001 23:46:53 +0300
Subject: BHA: 350 Israeli Intellectuals Call For International Protection Force


GUSH SHALOM - pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033 - http://www.gush-shalom.org/

Press release, May 6, 2001
==============================================350 Israeli Intellectuals Call For International Protection Force
==============================================An international protection force is something Gush Shalom has been calling for 
some time. Today's raid into Beit Jalla was an escalation of this war of 
attrition. Meanwhile a group of professors collected signatures of 350 Israelis 
- prominent or just concerned individuals on the following text which we 
forward.

------- Forwarded message follows -------

Dear friends and concerned citizens,

The enclosed petition, signed by nearly 350 Israeli intellectuals, academics 
and concerned citizens, calls for an immediate deployment of an international 
peace keeping force in the occupied territories in order to restore elementary 
safety and living conditions to the battered civilian Palestinian population in 
the region.

We believe that under present conditions a temporary international intervention
may be the only practical means now available to end the daily killing,
wounding, and suffering of civilians, including children and old people, and to
facilitate the resumption of talks.

We ask you to join our effort to enlist the support of world public opinion and
governments for the immediate deployment of such an international force, by
organizing and sending your own petitions or using other means available to you
to help check the deteriorating situation and stop the bloodshed.   

Yaron Ezrahi: mshruth-AT-mscc.huji.ac.il
Ruth HaCohen : mshruth-AT-mscc.huji.ac.il
Hannan Hever: hever26-AT-post.tau.ac.il
Anat Matar: matar-AT-post.tau.ac.il
Adi Ophir: adiophir-AT-post.tau.ac.il


THE APPEAL

Israeli Citizens Appeal for International Intervention
in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

We, citizens of Israel, are extremely concerned about the rapid deterioration 
of the condition of the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. We
consider the Jewish settlements in the territories occupied by Israel since 
1967 to be an ongoing act of aggression against the Palestinian people. Massive
construction of new Jewish settlements and expansion of existing ones have
continued relentlessly even after the signing of the Oslo agreements, more than
seven years ago. This is but one major element of the burden of the Israeli
occupation, which has become unbearable for Palestinians living in the West 
Bank and Gaza. While we totally condemn acts of terror against civilians, we 
regard the Palestinian revolt against colonial occupation as legitimate. 
Despite the fact that many innocent Israelis have been victims of this revolt 
we understand that there can be no moral and military symmetries between 
occupiers and occupied. The occupation itself is morally and politically wrong; 
the excessive force Israel uses in order to impose its rule against growing 
Palestinian resistance is totally unacceptable. 

The Israeli army has used lethal weapons against non-armed demonstrators 
killing over four hundreds Palestinians since October 2000, among them about 
seventy youth under sixteen, and wounding thousands more. In response to 
Palestinian attacks Israel has been retaliating by bombing and shelling targets 
in Palestinians cities. Israeli control of all major roads in and around the 
West Bank has fractured the Palestinian territory, cutting it up it into a 
series of isolated ghettos. This is severely crippling Palestinian economic 
activity, pushing ever larger portions of the Palestinian population beneath 
the poverty line to the point where in some areas there are already signs of 
famine. Israeli operations are disrupting Palestinian emergency medical 
services, transportation, and education. Palestinian civilians are not only 
abused and mistreated by members of the Israeli military, but are further 
exposed to daily harassment and aggression by Jewish settlers. The mental harm 
caused by years of terrorization, anxiety, loss, humiliation and mourning is 
inexpressible.

Israel acts as a sovereign that has relinquished all legal and moral
responsibilities to protect the Palestinian population under its jurisdiction.
We acknowledge the complexity of a situation in which it is often difficult to
distinguish between legitimate acts of Palestinian resistance and unacceptable
acts of Palestinian terror and between legitimate defensive Israeli policy and
acts of State terror. But the complexity of this situation can neither diminish
our responsibility nor silence our voice. It is our moral obligation as Israeli
citizens to express our solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for freedom,
and to do everything possible to protect the Palestinian population living in
the occupied territories. We urge our fellow citizens, and friends and
colleagues worldwide to join us in speaking up against the continued occupation
and oppression of the Palestinians. Specifically, we call for an immediate
international intervention to stop the killing and wounding of human beings who
are exercising their elementary right to claim political freedom. We call upon
you to urge your governments to go beyond hesitant condemnations of Israeli
policies and initiate an international peace force that would help protect the
Palestinians from the aggression of the Israeli government and facilitate the
resumption of serious negotiations between the parties to the conflict. 


================================================================         Sign the "Our Jerusalem, Capital of Two States" petition 
            full text in Hebrew, Arabic and English at 
               http://www.gush-shalom.org/jerusalem

Sign also the petition to implore the President of the United
States to withhold moving the US embassy from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem:
http://www.petitiononline.com/LVLKY325/petition.html

If you want to support our activities you can send a check (or cash,
wrapped well in an extra piece of paper) to: Gush Shalom pob 3322,
Tel-Aviv 61033, Israel In order to make from abroad a tax-deductible
donation you must do it via a recognized charity organization in your
country. NB: designate it for Gush Shalom, Israel. The following charities
enable you to donate to Gush Shalom: - New Israel Fund (US, Canada and UK
- see http://www.nif.org/giving/index.html); - SIVMO (The Netherlands -
see http://www.xs4all.nl/~sivmo/)

(PLEASE MAIL THAT YOU DID IT TO: info-AT-gush-shalom.org - and also inform us
of fitting charities in your country not appearing here).

If you do (not) want our action alerts and updates (un)subscribe to:
<info-AT-gush-shalom.org>
================================================================



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