ACTION ALERT
For Immediate Release
September 11, 2005
For Immediate Release
ACTION: PETITION SENT TO THE UNITED NATIONS
OPPOSE SHARON'S ADDRESS TO THE UN GENERAL
ASSEMBLY!
DEMAND THE IMPLEMENTATION OF UN RESOLUTION 194!
DEMAND THE RIGHT OF PALESTINIAN REFUGEES TO RETURN TO THEIR
HOMELAND!
On September 15, 2005 war criminal Ariel
Sharon is expected to address the U.N. General Assembly's
sixtieth regular session. Ironically, September 16 to 18,
2005 mark the twenty-third anniversary of the deliberate
and systematic massacre of more than 2000 Arab civilians,
mostly Palestinian and Lebanese, in the Sabra and Shatila
refugee camps. Then Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, the chief
architect of Israel's invasion of Lebanon, was found by
an Israeli commission of inquiry to have been personally
responsible for the massacre.
The statement below calling for the boycott
of Sharon's upcoming address, as well as the implementation
of UNGA Resolution 194, is today being sent to members of
the General Assembly and other relevant parties.
The victims of Sabra and Shatila -- those
who perished, as well as those who continue to be saddled
with the memories and horrors of the massacre on a daily
basis, would never forgive us if we were not to do our utmost
against Sharon's visit to the UN.
Please join in this important campaign
as we continue to encourage and add institutional, organizational
and individual endorsements.
We also request that you circulate this
statement as widely as possible.
Please email your endorsements to: opposesharon@yahoo.com
Provided is a list of organizational
and individual signatories
(lists in formation)
For information on the NY demo on September
15, please go to Al-Awda
New York's website
For other mobilizations of public protest
against Ariel Sharon's address to the United Nations, see:
http://www.stopthewall.org
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WE, the undersigned, DEMAND that Ariel
Sharon not be permitted to address the sixtieth regular
session of the General Assembly. Sharon's refusal to abide
by international law, particularly as it pertains to the
right of return for Palestinian refugees, is matched only
by his long career as a war criminal:
* In 1952 Ariel Sharon was appointed commander
of special 101 Commando Unit which carried out raids on
West Bank village of Qibya in which 69 civilians were murdered,
many of them women and children.
* The massacre at the Sabra and Shatila
refugee camps occurred between September 16 and 18, 1982,
after the Israeli invading army, then occupying Beirut and
under Sharon's overall command as Israel's Defense Minister,
permitted members of the Phalange and local allied militias
into the camps. The over 2000 civilian victims of the massacre
included infants, children, women, and elderly.
* In February 1983, a three-member official
Israeli commission of inquiry charged with investigating
the events, known as the Kahan Commission, named former
Defense Minister Sharon as one of the individuals who "bears
personal responsibility" for the Sabra and Shatila
massacre.
* The Al-Aqsa Intifada started after Sharon
visited the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Noble Sanctuary in Jerusalem
under heavy Israeli military and police guard. The visit
was a calculated step that sparked the expected resistance
from the oppressed Palestinian people.
Ariel Sharon continues his utter disregard
for international law. His refusal to abide by scores of
United Nations' resolutions addressing the Arab-Israeli
conflict is legendary. Only recently, Sharon reiterated
his rejection of the right of the Palestinian refugees to
return to their
original homes and lands. Such outright disregard for the
will of the international community constitutes a grave
violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
the International Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Racial Discrimination, the European, the American
and the African Conventions on Human Rights, and the Fourth
Geneva Convention of 1949.
It also reflects Sharon's refusal to implement
UN resolution 194, which has been reaffirmed practically
every year since 1948. Generally, the same position has
been affirmed by the Treaty-Based UN Committees, the regional
conventions on human rights and practically all human rights
NGOs.
We find it peculiar that the General Assembly
would permit a war criminal like Ariel Sharon to address
it, especially considering his explicit loathing of the
UN and the collective will of the vast majority of its member
states.
We also DEMAND that the General Assembly
embark on enforcing its resolution No. 194. The right of
the Palestinian refugees and uprooted to return to their
homeland is a historical right that is guaranteed by international
law. It is an individual and collective right which cannot
be relegated, diminished, reduced or forfeited by any representation
on behalf of the Palestinian people in any agreement or
treaty. As such, the Right of Return is not substituted
or affected in any way by the establishment of a Palestinian
state in any form. According to international law, agreements
that purport to trade away the right of refugees to return
to their homes,
or any other inalienable right, are illegal.
The right of refugees to return has been
exercised, with the support of the international community,
in Kosovo, Bosnia, East Timor, Rwanda, Guatemala and many
other places. Yet, it continues to be ignored and neglected
in Palestine. This selective enforcement of international
law and UN resolutions serves to undermine rather than strengthen
efforts to build a
peaceful and just world.
Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return
Coalition
PO Box 131352
Carlsbad, CA 92013, USA
E-mail: info@al-awda.org
WWW: http://al-awda.org
Tel: 760-685-3243
Fax: 360-933-3568
Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return
Coalition (PRRC) is the largest network of grassroots activists
dedicated to Palestinian human rights. We are a not for
profit tax-exempt educational and charitable 501(c)(3) organization
as defined by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the
United States of America. Under IRS guidelines, your donations
to PRRC are tax-deductible. To make a donation, please go
to http://www.al-awda.org/donatenow
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