Final Declaration and Action Plan of the Bilbao Initiative
Civil Society Action for Justice in Palestine
31 October 2008
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.
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.
Endnotes
[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