Press Releases

Letter of Palestinian Community Organizations in Palestine and Jordan to the Arab Summit, Amman, 27 March 2001

BADIL Resource Center 
26 March 2001 
For Immediate Release  


Your Highness King Abdullah II
Chairman of the Arab Summit in Amman, Jordan
Your Excellencies, Kings, Presidents and Delegations of the Arab States participating in the Amman Summit

Greetings of respect,

The Tel Aviv government continues its hostile discriminatory policy against our Palestinian people through its comprehensive military and economic closure, the continued killing and destruction carried out by its occupation forces as well as its policy of extra-judicial execution/political assassination. These policies have been committed in front of the whole world, which has not taken action to provide the Palestinians with international protection.

The United Nations, and the Security Council in particular, is constrained by the support granted by the United States to Israel. Without mentioning the scale of the losses and damage caused by these policies, the continuation of Israel's aggressive attacks and violence threatens even greater harm to the Palestinian people and the nations of the region, destroying every hope of achieving the desired peace and stability in this region. It has become even more clear that Israel is not yet ready to pay the price required for peace because of the discriminatory ideology that governs its major policies, the support that it receives from the United States, and the arrogance of power. Therefore, we call upon you to implement your decisions in order that the Arab people might restore their dignity among the nations. We also call upon you as leaders to work on the following:

1. Unify the Arab position in the framework of a comprehensive strategy to confront Israel's arrogance, including reconsideration of the role of United Nation bodies, especially the Security Council, which should fulfill their responsibilities towards the Palestinian issue and secure implementation of international law, foremost Resolution 194 (1948).

2. Pressure for international protection of the Palestinian people by the United Nations through the Security Council. This should include the protection of Palestinian properties in historic Palestine (occupied in 1948), Palestinian rights to the lands included in the Jewish state under Resolution 181, as well as Arab-Palestinian rights in Jerusalem.

3. Reaffirm the Palestinian rights to return, self-determination, and the establishment of an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital. Provide political and financial support to the Palestinian position through projects that limit the impact of Israel's arrogant policies. Isolate Israel on the international level, including through international sanctions, until Israel implements international law and resolutions.

4. Ensure the implementation of the Arab and Islamic position concerning Jerusalem and the right of each Arab state to protect its economic interests, markets, and culture against the Israeli infiltration linked to its strategy of control, including military attacks against Arab states.

5. Draw the attention of the international community and all peoples working for peace to the fact that any political settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict must be based on the re-instatement of Arab and Palestinian rights enshrined in international law and resolutions. This requires a clear Israeli recognition of its readiness to implement all United Nation resolutions pertaining to the Palestinian case. UN Resolutions 181 and 194 (Palestinian refugees' right of return and compensation) are especially important in this context, because the issue of Palestinian refugees inside Palestine and in exile is indivisible and continues to constitute the core of the Palestinian issue and the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

You have always expressed unity and solidarity with the Palestinian people. This support, provided through appropriate and effective mechanisms, forms the basis of our people's steadfastness against Israel's military machine and the arrogant occupation.

Signatories:

Union of the Youth Activity Centers - Refugee Camps in Palestine;
Union of the Women Activity Centers - West Bank Refugee Camps;
National Society for the Defense of the Internally Displaced;
Popular Committees - West Bank;
Popular Committees - Gaza Strip;
Committee for the Defense of the Palestinian Refugee Rights-West Bank;
Yafa Cultural Center - Balata Camp, Nablus;
Follow-up Committee for Refugee Affairs - Southern West Bank Camps;
High Committee for the Defense of the Palestinian Right of Return - Jordan;
BADIL Resource Center, Bethlehem;

Palestine and Jordan, March 2001