[WCUSP] European Union and President of the European Parliament and US government?

[yvonne simmons]

This letter applies also to the USA government.
: [womeninblack] Letter from Women in Black
> (Italy) to officials of
> 	the European Union and President of the European
> Parliament
>> 
>> To: 
> José Manuel Barroso, President of the European
> Commission
> Benita Ferrero Waldner, European Commissioner for
> External Relations 
> Javier Solana , High Representative for Common
> Foreign and Security Policy
> Marc Otte, EU Special Representative for the Middle
> East Peace Process
> Hans-Gert Pöttering, President of the European
> Parliament
> 
> 
> 
> We are writing to you on the occasion of a tragic
> anniversary: 40 years of Israeli occupation of
> Palestinian land. For us, this anniversary also
> represents a shameful reminder of the failure of our
> governments to uphold international law.  In these
> 40 year, the Israeli military occupation of
> Palestinian lands has led to the illegal building of
> Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories,
> the destruction of the civilian infrastructure -
> whose construction was often financed by European
> states - the destruction of crops and centuries-old
> olive trees,   the expropriation of water and other
> resources, the frequent use of collective punishment
> and many other  breaches of the 4th Geneva
> Convention that have been the subject of more than
> 60 U.N. resolutions.  All of these have had no
> effect on Israeli policy and the abuses to which
> Palestinian civilians are subjected have continued
> and worsened. 
> 
>  While the majority of European governments have
> supported the U.N. resolutions, there has been no
> reaction to Israel's failure to comply. Despite the
> judgement of the International Court of Justice,
> Israel has continued to build the Wall in the
> occupied territories, enclosing the Palestinian
> population in small Bantustans and   destroying
> every hope of normal life for the Palestinians in a
> viable, independent state. 
> 
> We acknowledge that the European Union and its
> member states have been involved in initiatives such
> as the Oslo accord and the Road Map. However, the
> accelerated settlement-building programme in the
> years following the Oslo accord is a clear sign that
> Israel feels secure in its defiance of international
> law.   Surely if proof were needed, this experience
> shows that peace negotiations must be held within a
> framework of support for the internationally
> recognised rights of the Palestinian people.
> Negotiations entered into when one party has been
> allowed to flout international law can only result
> in a victors' peace, which the defeated are left
> with no other choice than to accept. As Europeans,
> we should surely appreciate that such a peace is no
> peace at all, but rather a prelude to more violence.
>  Respect for the law and recognition of the rights
> that have been violated are necessary if we want to
> reach a just and lasting peace. 
> 
> It is not enough for the European Union to take a
> neutral position on this conflict. It is the duty of
> all democratic states to uphold international law
> and defend the rights that are established under it.
> Unfortunately, in the case of Palestine, the
> position of the EU and many of its member states is
> not even neutral and equidistant but rather
> decisively pro-Israeli.  Israel is granted special
> trading status with the European Union-Israel
> Association Agreement and no effort is made to
> enforce the required respect for human rights
> stipulated in article 2 of the agreement or to
> ensure that goods produced in the occupied
> territories are not illegally exported to the EU as
> Israeli products. Some member states have military
> cooperation agreements with Israel and most of those
> members who are also members of NATO have taken part
> in joint military exercises with the Israeli Armed
> Forces. This type of relationship with a state that
> repeatedly flouts international law is neither
> acceptable nor conducive to bringing about a just
> resolution of the conflict. 
> 
> To make matters worse, since the Palestinian
> elections of January 2006 the EU has participated in
> a financial boycott of the Palestinian Authority
> despite the fact that the EU's own observers found
> the election to have been transparent, free, and
> fair. Leaving aside the dramatic humanitarian
> effects that this choice has had for a people who
> are denied access to the resources of their own land
> by the Israeli armed forces,  it is hardly a
> position of either neutrality or of support for
> international law to boycott an occupied people
> because of a democratic choice they have made, while
> continuing friendly relations with the occupying
> power . 
> 
> We have a right and a duty to demand a change in
> these policies of indifference to violations of
> international law and of human rights. We cannot
> pretend to not see, to not know, and we refuse to be
> complicit in an injustice that has already lasted
> for 40 years. 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> > _______________________________________________
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>
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