Each day, in Palestine and in all the Arab villages of Israel, children, young people, men and women are dying under the fire of the Israeli army and settlers. Others are rounded up, and ‘disappear’, are imprisoned and are tortured. This situation, which is in flagrant violation of international law, human rights and the most elementary principles of humanitarian law (notably the Geneva Conventions of 1949), must not continue. It constitutes a real threat to the peace and international security.
In our capacity as lawyers (advocates, judges, law teachers etc) we urgently demand to the international community, to the United Nations, to the European Union, and to all the governments concerned:
- an end to the massacres, with the immediate unconditional withdrawal of the Israeli occupation forces, and with a prohibition on firing on unarmed civilians
- the identification, facilitated by an impartial and effective international enquiry, and punishment of all the war crimes committed by Israel
- the intervention of peacekeeping forces and protection of the civilian population under the responsibility of the United Nations
- 1the removal of all the Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories
- the possibility for all refugees to return to their places of origin, in Israel or in Palestine
- the immediate liberation of Palestinian prisoners in Israel
- the preservation of the multi-ethnic, multi-faith, and multi-cultural character of Jerusalem
- the proclamation, support for and international protection of the sovereign and independent Palestinian State with its capital in the Arab part of Jerusalem
- peace and security, collective and individual, for all the States and individuals in the region in the context of international law and human rights.
The undersigned declare themselves ready to support an international mission of enquiry, guarantee and monitoring in order to pursue the goals set out above, and in due course to take part