 |
Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 12 - 18 October 2000 Issue No. 503 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
|
||
|
Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 12 - 18 October 2000 Issue No. 503
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
|
||
Egypt Elections Palestine International Economy Opinion Culture Books Interview Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters A new agenda
THOUSANDS of Palestinians -- led by prominent figures Haydar Abdel-Shafi, Mustafa Al-Barghouti, Rawyeh Al-Shawa and Edward Said -- signed a petition on Tuesday calling upon the Palestinian leadership to "liberate itself from all restrictions imposed by the interim agreements which prevent the building of the Palestinian state, to immediately start building the state's institutions on the ground, and not to return to the same framework of bilateral negotiations with Israel which reached a deadlock in Camp David."The petition also called on the Palestinian leadership to stop security coordination with Israel, continue effort to release political prisoners, unite all ranks to support the popular uprising and prevent any attempts to abort its political consequences and to insist on immediate international intervention to investigate the war crimes committed by the Israeli forces and provide protection for the Palestinian people.
"Any effort to reach peace should be directed at the implementation of UN resolutions 242, 338 and 194, calling for an end to Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories, including Jerusalem, and ousting settlers and settlements from occupied territories," the petition said.
It added that the success of any international effort in building a just and permanent peace would not be achieved without "preventing the United States, which is biased to Israel, from monopolising the sponsorship of current peace efforts."
Those who signed the petition also appealed for worldwide support for the Palestinian people by halting all forms of normalisation with Israel, boycotting its products and closing down its embassies until it agrees to withdraw from Arab land occupied in 1967.
"What the Palestinian people need is not mediation with Israel, but solidarity with its just struggle, condemning the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people and supporting the implementation of UN resolutions related to the Palestinian case."
Israel's military censorship banned Palestinian papers published in Jerusalem from running the statement, although Palestinian papers in self-rule areas did print it.
Related stories:
Focus on Palestine
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
