Several institutions and civil and national organizations launched the initiative "An appeal from Palestine to the peoples and countries of the world", as part of a move to confront Israeli threats to annex Palestinian lands and demand the international community to take actions and serious positions against Israeli threats.
A group of Palestinian bodies and organizations participated in the preparation of this initiative, which worked as a coordination group for the appeal, and included: the Independent Commission for Human Rights, the Yasser Arafat Foundation, the Palestinian Center for Policy Research and Strategic Studies - Masarat, the Palestinian NGO Network, the Land Center for Research and Studies, and the Sector Coordination Council Private, the National Gathering of Independent Persons, Al-Haq, and the Palestinian Federation of Local Authorities.
More than 700 legal Palestinian personalities from all walks of life represented the sectors of the Palestinian people, including former officials, including three heads of government and former ministers, leaders of Palestinian parties and factions, people close to the national and Islamic forces, and local, feminist and religious leaders, academic and professional personalities, men and women. Business, artists, writers, journalists and activists in various fields.
The appeal:
An appeal from Palestine to the peoples and countries of the world
For many years, Israel remains an occupying power, occupying the territory of another state and controlling another people. A colonial state imposes settlement colonialism, including the confiscation of land, the transfer of the Israeli population to the occupied territories, and the establishment of a separate life regime for these. It is a country that commits serious violations of international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law. A state that denies the right to self-determination and national independence to the Palestinian people and denies the rights of its refugees, including their right to return, property and compensation. A country that has ignored international will, rejected and violated all relevant United Nations resolutions and treaties.
Matters have gone much worse recently, and we have witnessed more of Israel´s displacement towards extremism, fundamentalism and even fascism, and we have witnessed the completion of the retreat of the agreements concluded and attempts to take settlement colonialism to a new level, and Israeli officials have become outspoken in positions that refuse the existence and national rights of the Palestinian people and confirm the desire to seize the land The whole Palestinian.
The so-called "Trump´s vision of peace and prosperity" that was really not a peace plan, but rather an embrace of crazy ideological ideas pushing toward Greater Israel and denying the Palestinian national presence, and trying to find solutions to a "Palestinian population" in a scattered entity that they can call a state if they rise, was also recently put forward. By fulfilling many impossible conditions. The vision recognizes the possibility of Israel annexing large areas of the West Bank, including the presence of illegal colonies, the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea, in addition to the areas west of the wall that the International Court of Justice confirmed in 2004 for its legality and the need to remove it and redress the damage caused.
The Israeli Prime Minister has now repeated, on many occasions, his intention to announce the annexation of these areas referred to above, which is stated in the partnership agreement of the current Israeli government, meaning that this is part of the official policy of the government that comes in addition to annexing occupied East Jerusalem, which brings the world together Rejected and considered null and void. Such policies and procedures constitute a grave violation of the principles of international law and its related provisions. Rather, they destroy international law and the rules of conduct of states upon which the international system as a whole is destroyed, and they destroy the possibility of negotiated settlement between the two sides, and thus lead inevitably to a long confrontation that will produce catastrophic results.
The duty of the international community, with its states, peoples and civil society organizations, is to confront all this, prevent it from happening, and take deterrent attitudes and punitive measures in the event of its occurrence. Reluctance to seriously confront all of this is a shame that will have repercussions for the region and the international system, and inaction will be a betrayal of values ​​and principles and a retreat from the negotiated solution and establishing peace in the region on the basis of dividing into two states.
Based on the foregoing, we are Palestinian leaders from all walks of life, including academics, former officials and civil society organizations, we appeal to the international community to take the positions and measures necessary to stop what is happening and to confront it in order to preserve the goal of establishing peace and the future of the peoples of the region, including That Palestinian and Israeli people, each of them in their independent state, and specifically to do the following:
1. Affirm the position, and in various forms, against any annexation by Israel to the Palestinian territory, as it is a gross violation of the principles of international law and the Charter of the United Nations, in addition to its serious violation of relevant Security Council resolutions.
2. The necessity for all states to abide by the relevant Security Council resolutions, including resolution 2334 (2016) specifically not to recognize any change on the 1967 borders, and the necessity of all states having relations or cooperation agreements with Israel to abide by the principle of distinction between Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, including It includes East Jerusalem, and rejected any attempt by Israel to override this principle.
3. The necessity for the countries of the world to take specific measures against the colonies, the colonists, and the products of the colonies, including preventing the latter from entering their markets, in implementation of the contractual legal obligations of the countries (third parties) according to the Geneva Conventions of 1949.
4. The necessity for political forces and civil society organizations to confront the attempt of a few governments to criminalize the foregoing, as criminalizing a violation of international law, or criminalizing boycotts of Israel for political and moral considerations, given that such criminalization violates the values ​​of democracy and the fundamental rights of citizens of those countries.
5. The necessity for the countries of the world that have relations or cooperation agreements with Israel to take punitive measures against it on the basis of these agreements, in the event that Israel implements any step of annexation.
6. The necessity for the countries of the world, which did not recognize the state of Palestine, to recognize the state of Palestine on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, in compliance with the principle of dividing two states and acknowledging the existence of two states and to preserve the two-state political solution, given that this step is the one that guarantees the above.
7. Supporting the steps taken by the State of Palestine and other countries before the International Criminal Court and national courts in the countries of the world that allow this, against Israeli officials for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including annexation.
8. Supporting the Palestinian, Arab, and international action in the Security Council, the General Assembly, and other international bodies that are against any Israeli annexation if taken. Condemning the move as illegal and null and without legal value, and calling on all countries of the world not to accept it or recognize it, and to consider Israel as a state outside the law.
9. The position is confirmed against the so-called Trump vision, and the positions of the extreme right, the colonists in Israel, and the extreme religious right in America are rejected. It aims to achieve Greater Israel and the denial of national rights and even the national existence of the Palestinian people.
10. Provide support to the Palestinian people, the Palestine Liberation Organization, and the Palestinian Authority and help them continue to confront the annexation and Trump´s vision and to achieve their national goals of freedom and independence.
We, the undersigned, and while we are well aware of the great responsibilities that lie with us and the Palestinian people to enhance our capabilities, foremost of which are the unity of the people and its institutions in facing the foregoing, we make this appeal to all components of the international community to shoulder their responsibilities and take the necessary positions and actions in this historic juncture.
