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> ================================================================ --- from list bhaskar-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
Display software: ArchTracker © Malgosia Askanas, 2000-2005