December 21, 2005
Dismayed by the refusal of EU to publish their own Ramallah and East Jerusalem Heads of Mission findings regarding Israeli state actions towards non Jewish residents of East Jerusalem, Jewish and other peace groups and Palestinian Solidarity campaigns around Europe have decided they must take matters into their own hands.
Every organisation listed below will publish the Report on their websites. A copy of the report is also attached to this press release.
The day after the report was shelved by EU foreign ministers at their GAERC meeting in Brussels on December 12th – for fear of alienating Israel and reducing the EU’s influence – Israel announced, in violation of its Road Map obligations, the building of 300 new homes in the Maale Adumim settlement, the largest in the occupied territories.
Pierre Galand, Senator in the Belgian Parliament and Chairman of the European Co-ordinating Committee of NGOs on the question of Palestine (ECCP) said: “European diplomats in East Jerusalem and Ramallah had the courage to stress the alarming situation in East Jerusalem. Their report corroborates the ICJ advisory opinion ruling on the Wall and the illegal settlements, which led the ECCP to initiate the “European Campaign for Sanctions against the Israeli Occupation”. In order to force the EU member states to respect their own commitment to International Law and Human Rights, we will publish the report on East Jerusalem on our websites, despite the EU refusal to do so.”
Dan Judelson, Secretary of European Jews for a Just Peace said “The EU are burying their heads in the sand and are thus co-responsible while East Jerusalem residents face repeated violations of international law and of simple standards of humanity, all at the hands of the Israeli state. This is not a time for thumb twiddling or inaction; if the EU sits on this report, we see it as our duty to make it as widely available as we can.”
Betty Hunter, General Secretary of the UK Palestinian Solidarity Campaign said: “It is 17 months since the International Court of Justice declared the apartheid Wall to be an illegal act by an occupying force and that settlement building should end. While Israel defies this decision, Palestinians are losing their homes, land and livelihood in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. If European countries continue to collude with this, they are also guilty of oppressing the Palestinian people.”
ENDS
Pierre Galand, + 32 2 223 07 56 eccp@skynet.be
Chairman, European Co-ordinating Committee of NGOs on the question of Palestine
Dan Judelson, + 44 (0) 779 339 2820
Secretary, European Jews for a Just Peace www.ejjp.org
Plus:
Alternative Information Centre, Bethlehem & Jerusalem www.alternativenews.org
Arab Centre for Agricultural Development acad@palnet.com
Arab Media Watch, UK www.arabmediawatch.blogspot.com
Association Belgo-Palestinienne www.association-belgo-palestinienne
AIPPP Strasbourg www.protection-palestine.org
BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, Bethlehem www.badil.org
Civimed Initiatives, Strasbourg www.protection-palestine.org
Collectif judéo-arabe et citoyen pour la paix, Strasbourg www.protection-palestine.org
Committee for a Just Peace in the Middle East, Luxembourg www.cercle.lu
Coordination de l’Appel de Strasbourg www.protection-palestine.org
Council for the Advancement of Arab British Understanding, UK www.caabu.org
Een Ander Joods Geluid, Netherlands www.eajg.nl
Farrah France www.protection-palestine.org
Friends of Sabeel-UK www.sabeel.org/old/friends.html
Foundation TALLIQ www.talliq.nl
Humanistic Peace Council, Netherlands agpolak@freeler.nl
ISM London www.ism-london.org.uk
Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions-UK www.icahduk.org
Jews for Israeli Palestinian Peace, Sweden www.jipf.nu
Jews for Justice for Palestinians, UK www.jfjfp.org
Joint Action for Israeli Palestinian Peace, UK info@jaipp.org.uk
Judische Stimme für gerechten Frieden in Nahost, Berlin www.juedische-stimme.de
Just Peace UK http://groups.yahoo.com/group/justpeaceuk
Netherlands Palestine Committee www.xs4all.nl/~npk
Network of Jews against theOccupation, Italy http://paceinmedioriente.iobloggo.com
NUS Black Students’ Campaign, UK www.nusonline.co.uk/campaigns/blackstudentscampaign
Palestine Forum in Britain www.pfb.org.uk
Palestine Solidarity Campaign, UK www.palestinecampaign.org
Society for Austrian Arab Relations, Austria www.saar.at
Stop the Occupation, Netherlands. www.stopdebezetting.nl
Union Juive Francaise pour la Paix www.ujfp.org
Union des Progresssite Juifs de Belgiques www.upjb.be
War on Want, UK www.waronwant.org
Women in Black, The Netherlands www.vrouweninhetzwart.nl