Subject: HAB: Urgent call from Palestinian civil society
Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2002 18:45:32 -0300


| The following urgent call from members of Palestinian civil society 
| was issued today.
| 
| Nigel Parry
| for The Electronic Intifada
| 
| -----------
| 
| 29 March 2002
| 
| URGENT CALL TO WORLD CIVIL SOCIETY:
| BREAK THE CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE, ACT BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE
| 
| 
| We, the undersigned, believe that a full-scale Israeli offensive 
| throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) is imminent and 
| that such an unprecedented attack demands from global civil society 
| an unprecedented response.  For this reason, we urge global civil 
| society - including human rights organisations, solidarity groups, 
| and individuals - to take immediate direct action to stop Israel's 
| all-out war against the Palestinian people and its 35-year 
| belligerent military occupation of the Gaza strip and West Bank, 
| including east Jerusalem.
| 
| Today, Israeli occupying forces invaded the compound of PNA President 
| Yasser Arafat in Ramallah as part of a systematic and longstanding 
| campaign to undermine, humiliate, and destroy the Palestinian 
| political leadership.  Israeli troops have also seized complete 
| control of Ramallah and imposed a total curfew.  At the same time, 
| Israeli officials have begun a massive military build-up, including 
| the mobilization of 10,000 army reservists, in preparation for an 
| openly declared war throughout the OPT that promises to be 
| widespread, prolonged, and bloody.
| 
| Earlier this month, escalating Israeli attacks - including willful 
| killings, indiscriminate shelling and aerial bombardment, complete 
| economic and social suffocation, and mass destruction of housing and 
| agriculture - culminated in full-scale invasions of Palestinian 
| refugee camps and villages that killed hundreds of civilians. 
| Statements by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon today referring to 
| Arafat as the "enemy" and speaking of the need to "extirpate 
| Palestinian terrorism everywhere it exists" indicate that such 
| attacks are set to resume, with greater ferocity and scope, leading 
| to disastrous consequences.
| 
| Palestinian civil society groups have warned for years that Israel's 
| freedom to act as a state above the law would severely undermine 
| chances for a just and lasting peace.  After decades of occupation, 
| apartheid, and ethnic cleansing and 18 months of all-out war against 
| a civilian population, we call for the international community not to 
| wait for massacres on the scale of those in Sabra and Shatila in 
| 1982; the time for action is now.
| 
| The support for the Palestinian people shown by international 
| solidarity groups, manifested in numerous statements, visits, and 
| actions, has proved invaluable throughout this crisis.  Now is the 
| time for global civil society to use the momentum it has generated 
| and the ethical integrity it has demonstrated to forcefully demand 
| immediate action from governments to end the occupation, which is the 
| root cause of the conflict.
| 
| Governments, including those currently meeting at the UN Commission 
| on Human Rights, must face direct and unambiguous pressure from their 
| own people to immediately secure Israel's respect for the Fourth 
| Geneva Convention and its complete withdrawal from the OPT as 
| necessary steps towards achieving a just and lasting peace.
| 
| To this end, we call upon all those who oppose occupation, apartheid, 
| ethnic cleansing, and war crimes, who are committed to justice and 
| peace, who are willing to speak truth to power, to:
| 
| 1. Raise your voices to break the conspiracy of silence among 
| governments that allows Israel, which enjoys the unlimited and 
| unconditional support of the US, to commit war crimes and other 
| violations of international humanitarian law with impunity.
| 
| 2. Clearly, vigorously, and publicly demonstrate before governments 
| and international organisations to demand immediate and effective 
| protection for Palestinian civilians in the OPT, through protests, 
| marches, media campaigns, and other peaceful means.
| 
| 3. Demand that governments end military assistance to Israel, suspend 
| economic ties, and support the prosecution of war criminals, and urge 
| other states to do so.
| 
| 4. Continue and intensify your activities as part of a sustained and 
| systematic campaign to end the occupation, apartheid, ethnic 
| cleansing, and war crimes in the OPT and to support the legitimate 
| rights and aspirations of the Palestinian people.
| 
| Now is the time for immediate and direct action, as the pattern of 
| escalating oppression and brutality that we have experienced over the 
| past 18 months moves inexorably towards a disaster whose consequences 
| we can only begin to imagine.  In this dark hour of suffering and 
| determined resistance, we are sure that the worst is yet to come, but 
| we are equally sure that, with the support of global civil society at 
| this crucial time, peace and justice will prevail.
| 
| 
| Signed:
| Dr. Heydar Abdel-Shafi
| Dr. Hanan Ashrawi
| Dr. Mustafa Barghouti
| Dr. Azmi Bishara
| Rana Nashashibi
| Dr. Eyad Sarraj
| Khader Shkirat
| Raji Sourani
| 
| [ends]
| -- 
| 




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