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Apr 2000  

Statement in support of the Palestine Signatories
December 1, 1999

We, the undersigned, condemn in the strongest terms the arrests by the Palestinian Authority of Palestinian citizens, signatories of a statement expressing their alarm about corruption in the Palestinian Authority, and the failure of the Oslo Accords to secure the minimum of the Palestinian people's rights. Those arrested should be released immediately, and all proceedings against the signatories should be halted immediately.

The arrests are a totally unjustifiable attack on the freedom of expression, which should be guaranteed to every person. While carrying out these arrests, the Palestinian Authority is using the mantle of nationalism and the language of unity to stifle legitimate and necessary criticism and debate. Such repressive measures only harm the Palestinian people, and help their enemies, who point to the lack of democracy as evidence that Palestinians are incapable of governing themselves, and to the abuse of human rights by the Authority as an excuse for their own abuses.

The statement rightly argues that continued widespread corruption and abuse of power threaten to stifle Palestinian civil society from within. It correctly notes that the agreements so far signed with Israel have utterly failed to secure Palestinian rights or to stop the continued assault on the Palestinian people from without.

We affirm in conclusion that Palestinian national aspirations cannot be achieved in the absence of a fully democratic and open political system and that no agreements signed with Israel will be legitimate unless they represent a genuine, broad-based national consensus. Hence, new free and fair elections are an urgent requirement.

SIGNED:

  • Asad AbuKhalil, California State University, Stanislaus
  • Fawzi Abu Ayyash
  • Ali Abunimah
  • Munir Akash, Editor of Jusoor, The Arab American Journal of Cultural Exchange
  • Ali H. Alyami, Organization for Human Rights in the Arab World
  • Naseer Aruri, Chancellor Professor Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth Member of the Palestine National Council and Central Council
  • Fawzi Asmar, Journalist
  • Khalil Barhoum, Stanford University
  • Zahi Damuni
  • Arjan El Fassed, Hanthala
  • J. Farah
  • Samih Farsoun
  • Elaine Hagopian
  • Nubar Hovsepian, Rutgers University
  • Hussein Ibish
  • Shawqi Issa, Executive Director, LAW--The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment
  • Showki Kassis
  • Rashid Khalidi
  • Alfred Khoury, Physician
  • Atif Kubursi, Professor of Economics, McMaster University
  • Clovis Maksoud
  • Hala Maksoud, President, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
  • Joseph Massad, Assistant Professor of Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History, Columbia University
  • Rania Masri
  • Jamal Nassar, Professor of Political Science and Department Chair, Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois
  • Imad Sabi
  • Edward Said, University Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University
  • Nizar Sakhnini
  • Hisham Sharabi, Professor of History, Georgetown University
  • Michel Shehadeh, Committee for Justice to defend the Los Angeles Eight, ADC West Coast Director
  • Ghada Talhami, Professor of Political Science, Lake Forest College, Lake Forest, Illinois
  • George Zahr
  • Anan Jardali Zahr
  • Amira El-Zein, Professor, Georgetown University
  • Elia Zureik, Professor of Sociology, Queen's University, Ontario, Canada

TO ADD YOUR NAME TO THIS STATEMENT GO TO:

http://freecenter.digiweb.com/pages/palestine/
OR
http://hanthala2.virtualave.net

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