IMAGES OF WORLDWIDE PROTESTS (1 OCT - 12 OCT)
IMAGES OF WORLDWIDE PROTESTS (13 OCT - )
REPORT: WORLDWIDE SOLIDARITY DEMONSTRATIONS
HANTHALA PALESTINE CALLS ARAB SUMMIT TO PUT "FENCES DOWN"
On October 21, 2000 an Arab summit will be convened in Cairo to discuss the grave situation in occupied Palestine. Before this summit Hanthala Palestine sends the Arab governments participating in this summit the following message:
- We call on all Arab governments to lift any restriction on its citizens and in particular Palestinian refugees to show their support and solidarity with the Palestinian people, in particular those who are currently struggling to end the occupation, oppression and discrimination;
- We call on all on those Arab governments who have detained Arab citizens or Palestinian refugees who expressed their solidarity with the Palestinian people to release them immediately;
- We call on all Arab governments who have hosted Palestinian refugees the past 50 years, to respect the principle of non-discrimination which ensures that Palestinian refugees, even though they are not citizens of the host state, are entitled to the same basic rights and freedoms as citizens.
In general, the rights set out in the International Bill of Human Rights (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights) apply equally to citizens and refugees. This includes the freedom of opinion and expression (art. 19 UDHR, ICCPR); the freedom of movement (art. 13 UDHR, art. 12 ICCPR), the freedom from torture and degrading treatment (art. 5 UDHR, art. 7 ICCPR), and the protection against arbitrary detention (art. 9 UDHR, ICCPR).
To the Arab summit we convey the following message:
- We call on all participants to issue a strong condemnation of Israel's use of excessive force against the Palestinian civilian population and the bloodshed that it caused;
- We call on all participants to freeze all normalisation with Israel and reinstating the boycott of Israel as a stance of solidarity with the Palestinian people;
- We call on all participants to make a statement that nothing will substitute for the inalienable right of Palestinian refugees to return home.
Hanthala Palestine calls on the Arab governments to lift all current restrictions of the freedom of expression of their respective citizens and put "down the fences" that are dividing the Palestinian people and their brothers and sisters in the surrounding countries.
Additionally, Hanthala Palestine requests the Arab governments participating in the coming Arab summit to sever ties with Israel, including both economic and diplomatic relations until Israel completely withdraws from all territories it occupied in 1967, dismantles all settlements, and allows the Palestinian refugees to return home in accordance to international (humanitarian) law and fundamental human rights.
Hanthala Palestine
19 October 2000