600 Palestinian, Arab and international academic figures sign a statement "Let´s face the occupation and the annexation decision together"

600 Palestinian, Arab and international academic figures sign a statement "Let´s face the occupation and the annexation decision together"

About 600 Palestinian, Arab and international academic figures signed a statement launched by the international academic campaign against the Israeli occupation and the annexation scheme, tagged "Let´s face together the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the annexation decision."

The statement reviewed a number of continuing Israeli violations of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, as Israel (the occupying Power) continues to pursue its colonial colonial policies of land grabbing, forced displacement, apartheid, home demolitions, forced evictions of residents, displacement, and refusal to return the forcibly displaced refugees, The establishment of colonial settlements, the seizure of natural resources, economic deprivation and impoverishment, the excessive use of military force and committing extrajudicial killings, harm to innocent civilians, attacks on holy sites, denial of residents safe access to them, and the arrest of more than a million Palestinians since 1967, at the time In which Palestinians are deprived of their most basic rights, such as their right to life, private property, freedom of movement, education, development, a clean environment, freedom of worship, the inviolability of their homes, and their personal security.

The statement signed by academics, researchers, and experts from 30 Arab and foreign countries also touched upon the siege of the Gaza Strip, the isolation of Jerusalem and the denial of worshipers from freely accessing the holy places, and above all that depriving the Palestinian people of exercising their right to self-determination freely on their homeland, and empowering them with their rights Legitimate, freedom and independence according to international legitimacy decisions.

The signatories affirmed their categorical rejection of the American President´s peace initiative in the region known as the "deal of the century", condemnation of the Israeli move and its illegal expansion plans to annex the Palestinian territories by force, and the imposition of Israeli sovereignty over them, as a flagrant violation of the Charter and resolutions of the United Nations and international law, and a criminal denial of national rights The legitimate Palestinian sponsored by international law.

They also called on the international community to reject these plans and take responsibility under international law and international humanitarian law, especially the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, to preserve the lives of Palestinians, prevent the seizure of their lands threatened by annexation by the Israeli occupation, and secure international protection. To the Palestinian people, and to reinforce the work of the United Nations Commission on Apartheid, to condemn Israel´s racist and cleansing practices against the Palestinians, the holder of the historical right to their land.

The academics demanded the family of the international community to exert the necessary pressure and take all measures to prevent Israel (the occupying Power) from undertaking the annexation of Palestinian lands and to impose sanctions on them if they do so by activating international binding mechanisms to force them to comply with international law.

The signatories of the statement also called on all countries of the world and supporters of the Palestinian cause to support the Palestinian stand and efforts in the face of annexation schemes, and to support the continued investigation by the International Criminal Court of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed and perpetrated by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories, and to support Israel´s economic, academic and cultural boycott In order to support the Palestinian people in their battle against the occupation and the achievement of international justice.

For his part, the coordinator of the academic campaign against the occupation and the annexation scheme called for the return of academics and researchers to continue to put their signatures on the statement, in preparation for preparing a petition against the annexation plan that includes the signatures of a large and varied number of academics and experts, with a view to sending them to the United Nations institutions, the European Union institutions, This is in order to work on forming an effective and influential international lobby, aimed at preventing Israel from carrying out the annexation process and stopping the occupation.

It is noteworthy that the international academic campaign against the Israeli occupation and the annexation scheme is an independent civil campaign that includes an elite group of Palestinian academics in various Palestinian universities and research and policy-making centers aimed at activating informal academic diplomacy in the face of the Israeli occupation and the annexation decision.

It also aims to enhance research cooperation between researchers and scientists at a regional and international level, coordinate their efforts in combating the occupation and the decision of the Israeli colonial annexation, and clarify its dimensions and risks to the Palestinian people, and the need to confront it with a broad international front against discrimination, apartheid, foreign occupation, war crimes and crimes against humanity, believing Values ​​of freedom, equality, justice and peace.