Mar 10, 2013
The Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network
Friends Of Earth Palestine
شبكة اﺍلمنظماتﺕ اﺍلاھﮪﮬﻫلﯿﻴة اﺍلبﯿﻴئﯿﻴة اﺍلفلسطﯿﻴنﯿﻴة
We, the Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network (PENGON- FoE Palestine), appeal to environmental organisations around the world to refrain from working with the Jewish National Fund (JNF), an organisation responsible for the displacement of our people, theft of their property, colonisation of land and the destruction of the natural environment.
PENGON FoE Palestine is a non profit, non-governmental organization whose role is to serve the Palestinian environment by acting as a coordinating body for the Palestinian environmental organizations located in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. PENGON was founded in 1996, due to the increased demands and responsibilities of Palestinian environmental organizations to defend the Palestinian environment.
We cover a wide and diverse range of environmental issues such as developing and sustaining natural resources, combating environmental pollution, the conservation of water, the protection of wildlife and the promotion of environmental awareness. All of our activities have one common goal – protecting and defending the Palestinian environment.
PENGON-FOE Palestine is the only environmental network for Palestinian environmental organizations in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Fundamental to PENGON’s work is to ensure that the Palestinian environment is dealt within the context of the Occupation and thereby calling on environmental efforts to work hand-in-hand with social justice causes while integrating social, economic and cultural rights as a part of environmental protection and defense.
It is exactly and precisely because of our commitment to the environment and land that we abhor the activities of the JNF and urge you to refrain from collaborating with them. The JNF, since it was founded in 1901 to procure land in Palestine for the benefit of Jews only, has played a central role in the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Palestinian population using various different mechanisms, ranging from legal means to violent acts of expropriation. The JNF has thus been a vehicle through which Israel has created and sustained its colonial and apartheid policies, indeed, as the JNF openly states, its loyalty is given to “the Jewish people and only to them”. As the JNF owns 13% of the land in Israel, and appoints nearly half of the board of the Israeli Land Authority which manages a further 80%, this, as Adalah have detailed1, leads to a situation whereby land is distributed along racial lines and discrimination is institutionalised. In other words, JNF contributes to and maintains a system of institutionalised racial discrimination against Palestinians, otherwise known as Apartheid.
Furthermore, due to its high-level collaboration and planning with Israeli ‘military experts’ in the seizing and conquering of Palestinian villages2 in the years immediately preceding the war of 1948, the JNF is guilty of War Crimes, as stipulated in the Nuremberg Charter.3 The actions of the JNF, directly or by proxy, in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are also a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention which forbids both the confiscation of property and the Occupying power from settling its citizens in the territory in which it occupies.4
Despite (or, perhaps more likely because of) its crimes, the JNF attempts to promote itself as an environmentally friendly organisation. This is a smokescreen and a deception more frequently being referred to as the ‘green washing’ of apartheid. The latest eBook released on the JNF exposes the environmental racism and destructiveness of the JNF and goes some way to explaining the ongoing tragedy experienced by the Palestinian environment.5
Under the pretence of aiding the environment by planting forests and developing parks, the JNF has worked tactically to conceal the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous population of Palestine and deny refugees the opportunity to return to their homes. In doing so, not only have the JNF served as a crucial component of the Zionist colonial project, they have also irreconcilably damaged the natural environment and habitat.
Just one example of disastrous impact that JNF projects have had on the environment in Palestine comes with their attempts to drain Lake Huleh in the Eastern Galilee6. As documented in the JNF eBook, the stated aim of the project was to redeem the land under the lake for farming and settlements and to remove the mosquito breeding grounds. In fact, the project was driven more by ideological and strategic interests.7 The drainage resulted in an environmental disaster which led to underground peat fires, the eutrophication of Lake Tiberias and the extinction of several species unique to the region. The JNF subsequently re-flooded part of the Lake in order to salvage some of the wildlife which they had wreaked havoc upon and boasts about the success of this on its website. Presumably they forgot that without their crude intervention then their would have been no disaster in the first place.
Today still, the JNF’s projects of ethnic cleansing and forestation on stolen land continue unabated.
As part of a plan to ‘revitalise, develop and preserve the Negev desert’, JNF bulldozers have demolished the Bedouin village of Al-Araqib twenty-one times.8 This it to make way for the planting of trees, and to pave the way for the creation Jewish-only settlements in the area.
As is starkly clear, the Jewish National Fund is an organisation with explicitly racist aims of conquest. It is not only a destroyer of homes, dreams, and livelihoods, it is also a destroyed of the natural environment. The façade, the pretence, the green washing of the JNF’s destructive projects must end.
PENGON FoE Palestine calls upon our friends and colleagues around the world and all those committed to environmental justice to cease and refrain from working with the Jewish National Fund.
Original appeal here: [wpdm_file id=17]
1 http://www.adalah.org/newsletter/eng/aug04/5.php
2 Meron Benvenisti, “Sacred Landscape: The Buried History of the Holy Land. Berkeley”, University of California press, 2000
3 Nurenberg Charter, Article 6 (b) http://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/imtconst.asp
4 Fourth Geneva Convention. Articles 49 & 53. http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/385ec082b509e76c41256739003e636d/6756482d86146898c125641e004aa3c5
5 JNF eBook (Volume 4, May 15, 2011) Greenwashing Apartheid: The Jewish National Fund’s Enviromental Cover Up http://jnfebook.net/JNFeBookVol4q.pdf
6 Pg 105 JNF eBook (Volume 4 May 15, 2011) http://jnfebook.net/JNFeBookVol4q.pdf
7 Pg 107 JNF eBook (Volume 4 May 15, 2011) http://jnfebook.net/JNFeBookVol4q.pdf
8 http://electronicintifada.net/content/palestinian-bedouins-al-araqib-we-wont-leave/9268
Feb 8, 2012
8 February 2012
The Jewish National Fund (JNF) has designated Sunday February 12th as ‘Green Sunday’, when it encourages people to donate money to ‘plant trees in Israel’. In response to the call from the campaign to Stop the Jewish National Fund (JNF) to boycott Green Sunday, Jews of conscience call upon others to join us in answering the call. In addition to the violence, displacement, and environmental degradation perpetrated by the JNF against Palestinians, we add an independent complaint as Jews to the JNF’s cynical misuse of Tu B’shvat.
In the Jewish tradition, Tu B’shvat is the New Year for the trees. Although Tu B’shvat has always been a minor holiday, in most Jewish traditions trees are celebrated as one of the central symbols of life.. In Halachah (Jewish law), prohibitions against destroying trees, specially fruit trees, are rigorously specified, even in times of war. Throughout folklore in many different Jewish traditions, the planting of trees that bear fruit is lauded as a life affirming deed and a cause for celebration.
In the face of centuries of traditions affirming trees as a symbol of life, leaders of the religious Zionist movement – the movement to claim Palestine as a Jewish state – began a custom of planting trees in Jewish colonies in Palestine as part of a ‘celebration’ of Tu B’shvat. This tradition was adopted by the Jewish National Fund for its ‘Plant a Tree in Israel’ campaign. Ever since then, the Jewish National Fund (JNF) shamelessly exploits Tu B’shvat as an opportunity to raise money to fund their ongoing colonization of Palestine and displacement of Palestinians. Under the guise of ‘environmentalism,’ and ‘Jewish values’ the JNF expels people from their homes, violently displaces people, and radically disrupts natural habitats, sometimes destroying entire eco-systems.
As Jews of conscience, we stand against the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, the ethnic cleansing Israel is perpetrating against Palestinians, and all the ways that Israeli apartheid harms people. We also reject and oppose the collaboration between the JNF and the Israeli Occupation Forces on these projects of displacement, as well as the ways the JNF destroys and forever alters the natural ecosystems of Palestine. We stand opposed to this destruction and violence, and commit ourselves to acting against it. For centuries, trees have been a symbol of life, which we affirm as sacred. The use of trees in a project of ethnic cleansing is a disgrace to the meaning of this holiday.
As Jews of conscience, we join the international campaign to Stop the JNF and invite others to join us this Tu B’shvat…
– Plant-a-Tree in Palestine: against a century of planting trees of destruction, join our partners – the Palestinian Farmer’s Collective and Stop the Wall – in replanting indigenous trees in the West Bank
– Hold an anti-Zionist Tu B’shvat Seder
– Endorse the call against the JNF
– Take action – get involved in Stop the JNF through www.stopthejnf.org and by emailing info@stopthejnf.org
Signatories:
International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN), international
Boycott from Within, Israel
IJAN Spain
IJAN France
IJAN Canada
IJAN UK
IJAN Switzerland
Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in Middle East, Germany
Kritische Jüdische Stimme (Österreich)” (the translation is “Critical Jewish Voice Austria”)
Women in Black, Bay Area
IJAN Argentina
Philly Jews for a Just Peace, USA
Dr. Hajo G. Meyer, Holland
Hedy Epstein, USA
Prof. Shulamit Bruckstein Çoruh
Dr. Fanny Michaela Reisin, Germany
Jean Pauline, USA
Mar 26, 2011
A statement by the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC)
26 March 2011
Occupied Palestine
Commemorating the Palestinian Land Day and the Global BDS Day of Action (1), the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC), on behalf of its constituent organizations and unions representing the majority of Palestinian civil society, together with many partners around the world, particularly the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) and the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, is hereby officially launching an international campaign to Stop the Jewish National Fund (JNF) and strip it of its charity status everywhere. The BNC calls on people of conscience around the world to take civil and legal steps to oppose the presence and activities of the JNF in their countries due to its long-standing and intricate role in crimes of colonization, ethnic cleansing and apartheid against the Palestinian people. As a key pillar in Israel’s system of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid, the JNF should lose its charitable status anywhere; it should also be comprehensively boycotted by international civil society and by governments that consistently uphold the primacy of international law.
Established in 1901 with the primary objective to “purchase, take on lease or in exchange or otherwise acquire lands….in the prescribed region [Palestine and the surrounding areas]…for the purpose of settling Jews on such lands”, (2) the JNF (also known as Keren Kayemeth L’Yisrael or KKL) (3) has been a chief partner in the Zionist colonial drive to dispossess indigenous Palestinians of their land, culminating in the Nakba of 1948 when Zionist militias and later Israel expelled a majority of the Palestinian population in order to establish a state with a Jewish majority. Shortly after the Nakba, the government of Israel transferred the ownership of lands from 372 of the 522 ethnically cleansed Palestinian villages to the JNF-KKL in order to hold them “in the name of the Jewish people in perpetuity” and prevent the return of the rightful Palestinian owners (4).
Since the 1950s, when Israel institutionalized its policies of ethnic cleansing and colonization, the JNF-KKL has formed a pillar of Israel’s apartheid over the Palestinian people. Granted public status under Israeli law, (5) the JNF-KKL – an organization mandated to exclusively serve Jewish interests – has since held an influential position in the Israel Lands Authority (ILA), the official body responsible for the administration of all public land in Israel.
All told, the JNF-KKL’s position and role means that Palestinian citizens of Israel are effectively barred from owning or leasing around 93% of the lands in Israel (6).
For over a century to this day, the JNF-KKL has thus been at the forefront of aiding and abetting the forcible expulsion of Palestinians from their lands. The JNF-KKL supports Israel in ejecting Palestinians from their homes, denying them access to it and working diligently to destroy the evidence, mainly by planting trees on top of and around ethnically cleansed villages to literally disappear them. These welldocumented crimes would not have been possible without the stream of external funding and political support, in particular from private entities in the US and Europe, or the political cover from governments that turn a blind eye to the JNF’s activities on their soil, often in violation of the country’s domestic laws.
As with apartheid South Africa, Israeli apartheid can only end when the structures sustaining it are exposed and dismantled, JNF being its archetypal representation.
Over time, the JNF-KKL has developed a number of ways to re-brand itself and present its support for ethnic cleansing and apartheid in a more positive light. These include efforts at ‘green-washing’ Israeli Apartheid by deceptively promoting itself as an environmental organization which realizes the deeply racist Zionist myth of “making the desert bloom”, whilst in reality planting non-native pines which destroy indigenous vegetation and pursuing other activities which negatively affect the local environment. (7)
As Palestinian displacement and dispossession continues, so does the JNF-KKL’s role. Of the many areas in which the JNF-KKL is busy at work, its actions in the Naqab (Negev) desert in Southern Israel and its US$600 million project to settle 250,000 Jewish settlers on the land is the most horrific. (8) The majority of the Naqab’s Bedouin Palestinian inhabitants were evicted in 1948; most of their land was confiscated by the Israeli state, and some of it was transferred to the JNF-KKL. Since then Palestinians in the area have been forced into ever-smaller “concentration towns,” resembling the reservations for native communities in North America, or into “unrecognized villages,” the existence of which the State refuses to recognize and to which no water, electricity, schooling or other public service are provided (9). The JNF-KKL’s most disturbing project in the area, “God’s TV Forest” funded by an Evangelical organization that believes that “greening the land” will bring about the End Times, is being planted on the land of the Palestinian Bedouin village of Al Araqib which has been destroyed more than 20 times since June 2010.
On the occasion of Palestinian Land Day and the Global BDS Day of Action on 30 March, the BNC calls upon conscientious people and organizations worldwide to expose the JNF’s crimes against the Palestinian people and to implement boycotts and legal action against the JNF wherever it operates.
Join the “Stop the JNF” campaign (10): www.stopthejnf.org
1 BNC Statement on Land Day (2009) http://www.bdsmovement.net/?q=node/353
2 Quoted in Walter Lehn, The Jewish National Fund, London: Kegan Paul International, 1988, p.32-33
3 In Hebrew, Keren Kayemet L’Yisrael (KKL) [literally, the ‘Perpetual Fund for Israel.’ In some states, JNF affiliate organizations use this name instead of JNF.
4 Financing Racism and Apartheid, The Jewish National Fund’s Violation of International and Domestic Law, Appendix 2 http://www.plands.org/store/pdf/JNF%20Report.pdf
5 World Zionist Organization-Jewish Agency “Status” Law (1952); Jewish National Fund Law (1953) .
6 Mahajneh, A (2010), Al Majdal, The Jewish National Fund (Winter-Spring 2010), p.31.
7 Blumenthal, M. The Carmel Wildfire is burning all illusions in Israel, 2011, Electronic Intifada.
8 http://www.jnf.org/work-we-do/blueprint-negev/
9 Inequality Report, The Palestinian Arab minority in Israel, Adalah December 2010 p.17 and 31
10 The Stop the JNF Campaign, established by a coalition of solidarity organizations around the world including Palestinian and Israeli groups, aims to expose the JNF’s violations of Palestinian rights and international law, promote civil and legal challenges to the JNF throughout Europe, the Americas and Australasia, seeking to annul the JNF’s charitable privileges and tax-exempt fundraising, and have JNF offices world-wide shut down. The BNC views this campaign with utter interest, as it is well justified, well thought-out, as well as has every potential to succeed and, as a result, to play a key role in dismantling the racist structures of apartheid that have been imposed on Palestinians for over 60 years.
Jan 1, 2010
The following declaration was issued by Gaza Freedom March delegates on 1 January 2010:
Gaza Freedom Marchers approved today a declaration aimed at accelerating the global campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israeli Apartheid.
Roughly 1,400 activists from 43 countries converged in Cairo on their way to Gaza to join with Palestinians marching to break Israel’s illegal siege. They were prevented from entering Gaza by the Egyptian authorities.
As a result, the Freedom Marchers remained in Cairo. They staged a series of nonviolent actions aimed at pressuring the international community to end the siege as one step in the larger struggle to secure justice for Palestinians throughout historic Palestine.
This declaration arose from those actions:
We, international delegates meeting in Cairo during the Gaza Freedom March 2009 in collective response to an initiative from the South African delegation, state:
In view of:
- Israel’s ongoing collective punishment of Palestinians through the illegal occupation and siege of Gaza;
- the illegal occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the continued construction of the illegal Apartheid Wall and settlements;
- the new Wall under construction by Egypt and the US which will tighten even further the siege of Gaza;
- the contempt for Palestinian democracy shown by Israel, the US, Canada, the EU and others after the Palestinian elections of 2006;
- the war crimes committed by Israel during the invasion of Gaza one year ago;
- the continuing discrimination and repression faced by Palestinians within Israel;
- and the continuing exile of millions of Palestinian refugees;
- all of which oppressive acts are based ultimately on the Zionist ideology which underpins Israel;
- in the knowledge that our own governments have given Israel direct economic, financial, military and diplomatic support and allowed it to behave with impunity;
- and mindful of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (2007)
We reaffirm our commitment to:
- Palestinian Self-Determination
- Ending the Occupation
- Equal Rights for All within historic Palestine
- The full Right of Return for Palestinian refugees
We therefore reaffirm our commitment to the United Palestinian call of July 2005 for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) to compel Israel to comply with international law.
To that end, we call for and wish to help initiate a global mass, democratic anti-apartheid movement to work in full consultation with Palestinian civil society to implement the Palestinian call for BDS.
Mindful of the many strong similarities between apartheid Israel and the former apartheid regime in South Africa, we propose:
- An international speaking tour in the first six months of 2010 by Palestinian and South African trade unionists and civil society activists, to be joined by trade unionists and activists committed to this program within the countries toured, to take mass education on BDS directly to the trade union membership and wider public internationally;
- Participation in the Israeli Apartheid Week in March 2010;
- A systematic unified approach to the boycott of Israeli products, involving consumers, workers and their unions in the retail, warehousing and transportation sectors;
- Developing the academic, cultural and sports boycott;
- Campaigns to encourage divestment of trade union and other pension funds from companies directly implicated in the occupation and/or the Israeli military industries;
- Legal actions targeting the external recruitment of soldiers to serve in the Israeli military, and the prosecution of Israeli government war criminals; coordination of Citizen’s Arrest Bureaux to identify, campaign and seek to prosecute Israeli war criminals; support for the Goldstone report and the implementation of its recommendations;
- Campaigns against charitable status of the Jewish National Fund (JNF).
Signed by:
(* Affiliation for identification purposes only.)
1. Hedy Epstein, Holocaust Survivor/ Women in Black*, USA
2. Nomthandazo Sikiti, Nehawu, Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), Affiliate International Officer*, South Africa
3. Zico Tamela, Satawu, Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) Affiliate International Officer*, South Africa
4. Hlokoza Motau, Numsa, Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) Affiliate International Officer*, South Africa
5. George Mahlangu, Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) Campaigns Coordinator*, South Africa
6. Crystal Dicks, Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) Education Secretary*, South Africa
7. Savera Kalideen, SA Palestinian Solidarity Committee*, South Africa
8. Suzanne Hotz, SA Palestinian Solidarity Group*, South Africa
9. Shehnaaz Wadee, SA Palestinian Solidarity Alliance*, South Africa
10. Haroon Wadee, SA Palestinian Solidarity Alliance*, South Africa
11. Sayeed Dhansey, South Africa
12. Faiza Desai, SA Palestinian Solidarity Alliance*, South Africa
13. Ali Abunimah, Electronic Intifada*, USA
14. Hilary Minch, Ireland Palestine Solidarity Committee*, Ireland
15. Anthony Loewenstein, Australia
16. Sam Perlo-Freeman, United Kingdom
17. Julie Moentk, Pax Christi*, USA
18. Ulf Fogelström, Sweden
19. Ann Polivka, Chico Peace and Justice Center*, USA
20. Mark Johnson, Fellowship of Reconciliation*, USA
21. Elfi Padovan, Munich Peace Committee*/Die Linke*, Germany
22. Elizabeth Barger, Peace Roots Alliance*/Plenty I*, USA
23. Sarah Roche-Mahdi, CodePink*, USA
24. Svetlana Gesheva-Anar, Bulgaria
25. Cristina Ruiz Cortina, Al Quds-Malaga*, Spain
26. Rachel Wyon, Boston Gaza Freedom March*, USA
27. Mary Hughes-Thompson, Women in Black*, USA
28. David Letwin, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN)*, USA
29. Jean Athey, Peace Action Montgomery*, USA
30. Gael Murphy, Gaza Freedom March*/CodePink*, USA
31. Thomas McAfee, Journalist/PC*, USA
32. Jean Louis Faure, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN)*, France
33. Timothy A King, Christians for Peace and Justice in the Middle East*, USA
34. Gail Chalbi, Palestine/Israel Justice Project of the Minnesota United Methodist Church*, USA
35. Ouahib Chalbi, Palestine/Israel Justice Project of the Minnesota United Methodist Church*, USA
36. Greg Dropkin, Liverpool Friends of Palestine*, England
37. Felice Gelman, Wespac Peace and Justice New York*/Gaza Freedom March*, USA
38. Ron Witton, Australian Academic Union*, Australia
39. Hayley Wallace, Palestine Solidarity Committee*, USA
40. Norma Turner, Manchester Palestine Solidarity Campaign*, England
41. Paula Abrams-Hourani, Women in Black (Vienna)*/ Jewish Voice for Just Peace in the Middle East*, Austria
42. Mateo Bernal, Industrial Workers of the World*, USA
43. Mary Mattieu, Collectif Urgence Palestine*, Switzerland
44. Agneta Zuppinger, Collectif Urgence Palestine*, Switzerland
45. Ashley Annis, People for Peace*, Canada
46. Peige Desgarlois, People for Peace*, Canada
47. Hannah Carter, Canadian Friends of Sabeel*, Canada
48. Laura Ashfield, Canadian Friends of Sabeel*, Canada
49. Iman Ghazal, People for Peace*, Canada
50. Filsam Farah, People for Peace*, Canada
51. Awa Allin, People for Peace*, Canada
52. Cleopatra McGovern, USA
53. Miranda Collet, Spain
54. Alison Phillips, Scotland
55. Nicholas Abramson, Middle East Crisis Response Network*/Jews Say No*, USA
56. Tarak Kauff, Middle East Crisis Response Network*/Veterans for Peace*, USA
57. Jesse Meisler-Abramson, USA
58. Hope Mariposa, USA
59. Ivesa Lübben. Bremer Netzwerk fur Gerechten Frieden in Nahost*, Germany
60. Sheila Finan, Mid-Hudson Council MERC*, USA
61. Joanne Lingle, Christians for Peace and Justice in the Middle East (CPJME)*, USA
62. Barbara Lubin, Middle East Children’s Alliance*, USA
63. Josie Shields-Stromsness, Middle East Children’s Alliance*, USA
64. Anna Keuchen, Germany
65. Judith Mahoney Pasternak, WRL* and Indypendent*, USA
66. Ellen Davidson, New York City Indymedia*, WRL*, Indypendent*, USA
67. Ina Kelleher, USA
68. Lee Gargagliano, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (Chicago)*, USA
69. Brad Taylor, OUT-FM*, USA
70. Helga Mankovitz, SPHR (Queen’s University)*, Canada
71. Mick Napier, Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign*, Scotland
72. Agnes Kueng, Paso Basel*, Switzerland
73. Anne Paxton, Voices of Palestine*, USA
74. Leila El Abtah, The Netherlands
75. Richard Van der Wouden, The Netherlands
76. Rafiq A. Firis, P.K.R.*/Isra*, The Netherlands
77. Sandra Tamari, USA
78. Alice Azzouzi, Way to Jerusalem*, USA
79. J’Ann Schoonmaker Allen, USA
80. Ruth F. Hooke, Episcopalian Peace Fellowship*, USA
81. Jean E. Lee, Holy Land Awareness Action Task Group of United Church of Canada*, Canada
82. Delphine de Boutray, Association Thèâtre Cine*, France
83. Sylvia Schwarz, USA
84. Alexandra Safi, Germany
85. Abdullah Anar, Green Party – Turkey*, Turkey
86. Ted Auerbach, USA
87. Martha Hennessy, Catholic Worker*, USA
88. Louis Ultale, Interfaile Pace e Bene*, USA
89. Leila Zand, Fellowship of Reconciliation*, USA
90. Emma Grigore, CodePink*, USA
91. Sammer Abdelela, New York Community of Muslim Progressives*, USA
92. Sharat G. Lin, San Jose Peace and Justice Center*, USA
93. Katherine E. Sheetz, Free Gaza*, USA
94. Steve Greaves, Free Gaza*, USA
95. Trevor Baumgartner, Free Gaza*, USA
96. Hanan Tabbara, USA
97. Marina Barakatt, CodePink*, USA
98. Keren Bariyov, USA
99. Ursula Sagmeister, Women in Black – Vienna*, Austria
100. Ann Cunningham, Australia
101. Bill Perry, Delaware Valley Veterans for Peace*, USA
102. Terry Perry, Delaware Valley Veterans for Peace*, USA
103. Athena Viscusi, USA
104. Marco Viscusi, USA
105. Paki Wieland, Northampton Committee*, USA
106. Manijeh Saba, New York / New Jersey, USA
107. Ellen Graves, USA
108. Zoë Lawlor, Ireland – Palestine Solidarity Campaign*, Ireland
109. Miguel García Grassot, Al Quds – Málaga*, Spain
110. Ana Mamora Romero, ASPA-Asociacion Andaluza Solidaridad y Paz*, Spain
111. Ehab Lotayef, CJPP Canada*, Canada
112. David Heap, London Anti-War*, Canada
113. Adie Mormech, Free Gaza* / Action Palestine*, England
114. Aimee Shalan, UK
115. Liliane Cordova, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN)*, Spain
116. Priscilla Lynch, USA
117. Jenna Bitar, USA
118. Deborah Mardon, USA
119. Becky Thompson, USA
120. Diane Hereford, USA
121. David Heap, People for Peace London*, Canada
122. Donah Abdulla, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights*, Canada
123. Wendy Goldsmith, People for Peace London*, Canada
124. Abdu Mihirig, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights-UBC*, Canada
125. Saldibastami, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights-UBC*, Canada
126. Abdenahmane Bouaffad, CMF*, France
127. Feroze Mithiborwala, Awami Bharat*, India
128. John Dear, Pax Christi*, USA
129. Ziyaad Lunat, Portugal
130. Michael Letwin, New York City Labor Against the War (NYCLAW) – Labor For Palestine
Oct 31, 2008
31 October 2008 – This is the document that was produced at the Bilbao Initiative, which was organized by Spanish solidarity groups, particularly the Basque network, Mewando, Palestinian civil society networks, particularly PNGO and Ittijah, and the Alternative Information Center. There were tens of Spanish and other European as well as Palestinian organizations persent at Bilbao and they unanimously endorsed this Declaration. It is worth noting that the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) played a key role in the process. Also, the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) was strongly present and endorsed this document.
The Bilbao Initiative – civil society action for justice in Palestine
Final Declaration and Action Plan
For the past 60 years, the indigenous Palestinian people has been scattered in the Diaspora and fragmented within its homeland by walls and policies of segregation and domination. However, the Palestinian national struggle cannot be divided, and the rights of the Palestinians to return to their homes of origin, enjoy freedom, and exercise self-determination can only be achieved if the root causes of their denial are addressed and if Palestinian national unity is preserved.
During the Bilbao Initiative gathering, we, Palestinian, progressive Israeli and international organizations and social movements discussed and embraced the latest Palestinian in-depth examination [1] of Israel’s legal and political regime over the Palestinian people. This analysis exposes Israel as a state which is built on the massive ethnic cleansing of 1948 and which for six decades has systematically committed injustices against all segments of the Palestinian people – refugees in exile, citizens of Israel and those in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) – on grounds of their national identity, in order to prevent Palestinian self-determination and to cement colonization and domination via racist laws, including promoting exclusively Jewish immigration while barring the Palestinians’ right to return. From a legal perspective, this study has concluded that Israel’s regime is a system that uniquely combines apartheid, settler-colonialism and belligerent occupation.
We, representatives of international civil society meeting in Bilbao, agree that the State of Israel must be held legally accountable. By granting Israel impunity for its persistent and systematic violations of international law and fundamental human rights, treating it as an exception above the law of nations, and providing it with unlimited political, economic, scientific, cultural and diplomatic support, the United States, the EU and other players in the so-called international community are guilty of complicity in perpetuating Israeli apartheid and colonial rule. Only by ending this complicity can justice and dignity be restored to the Palestinian people and lasting, comprehensive peace be established in the Middle East.
Furthermore, given the failure of the international community, particularly the United Nations, to recognize and effectively address racism and racial discrimination as a root cause of Israel’s systematic and persistent oppression of the Palestinian people and to counter this oppression, we call upon international civil society at large to shoulder the moral and political responsibility of effectively supporting the struggle to end Israel’s multifaceted injustice, as was done against apartheid South Africa, thereby promoting justice, equality and sustainable peace in a region free of nuclear weapons.
Action Plan
Assembled in Bilbao on October 31, 2008, we hereby call upon civil society organizations, political parties, networks and conscientious individuals:
(1) To raise awareness about and implement the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Campaign against Israel, based on the 2005 Palestinian civil society BDS Call [2], in a gradual, sustainable manner that is sensitive to context and capacity. In particular, we call upon international solidarity movements, social movements, faith-based organizations, unions, NGOs, cultural and academic figures and associations, human rights organizations, and independent legal experts to undertake practical and effective measures to counter Israel’s occupation, apartheid and systematic violation of Palestinian human rights.
(2) To develop and sustain public awareness-raising campaigns to expose the facts about Israel’s regime of apartheid, colonialism and occupation; promote and support the struggle of the entire Palestinian people – in the OPT, Israel, and exile – to attain their right to self-determination, justice, return, and equality as individuals and as a people. To this effect, media organizations are called upon to allow the authentic voices representing Palestinian civil society and supporters of a just peace to be expressed freely, without censorship, distortion or omission.
(3) To demand the compliance with the 2004 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice – condemning Israel’s Wall and colonies built on occupied territory – by refraining from providing aid or assistance to Israel or to any of the institutions complicit in its crimes and violations of international law during the implementation of humanitarian and development operations; and hold Israel accountable for damages incurred to infrastructure and services financed and supported by the international community in the OPT.
(4) To act to end Israel’s gradual ethnic cleansing in occupied Jerusalem and its criminal siege of the occupied Gaza Strip, where its illegal and immoral policy of collective punishment against 1.5 million Palestinians may amount to acts of genocide, according to leading international law experts. The collusion of the international community in maintaining the siege must also be exposed and brought to an end.
(5) To build pressure on the United Nations, governments, local authorities, multilateral bodies, such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the private sector to suspend cooperation with Israel, with all its complicit institutions and with all institutions that support its occupation and human rights violations, and to investigate their respective compliance with international law and UN resolutions.
(6) To build pressure on the European Union to uphold and respect its obligations under international law and its own human rights standards in its relationship with Israel, in particular by demanding a suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, based on Israel’s grave and persistent violations of its articles 2 and 83.
(7) For independent human rights organizations and legal experts to continue their legal efforts for the prosecution and punishment of Israeli perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity, for reparations for the Palestinian victims, and for accountability of the State of Israel and all parties complicit in such crimes. We urge the exploration of new strategies whereby Zionist organizations, especially the Jewish National Fund (JNF), as well as all foreign companies and governments that collaborate with Israel’s regime of oppression can be held accountable in international courts, including the European Court of Human Rights.
(8) For the Assembly of Social Movements and other international networks in the context of the World Social Forum to endorse the above analysis and adopt the Action Plan in their respective programs of action.
(9) To develop solidarity with all the nations, and particularly the people in the Arab world and other countries in the region that are struggling for freedom, justice and self-determination.
(10) To strengthen the coordination and cooperation among international civil society actors for the purpose of implementing the above clauses of this Action Plan.
Notes:
[1] See the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee’s Durban Review strategy paper titled “United against Apartheid, Colonialism and Occupation,” October, 2008.
[2] http://www.bdsmovement.net/?q=node/52
