Monday 1 December 2008

Urgent Action Needed - Contact your MEP now!

Source







No New EU-Israel Action Plan!!

(forwarded from the Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign)


The European Parliament (EP) has recently announced that a vote will be held on December 4 to enter into force the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which will enable far greater Israeli participation in European Community programs. Originally, the EU had stated that the vote on this issue would not take place until 2009, but it seems clear that the EU and Israel are attempting to minimize the voice of international civil society by suddenly announcing that it has been moved up to December 4.

The proposed agreement offers to Israel full access to the EU scientific, academic, research and technical programmes, and will significantly deepen EU-Israeli cooperation and integration in many important sectors. It ignores the fact that these sorts of cooperation agreements that increase Israel’s relationships with the international community are one of Israel’s primary means of its ongoing occupation, the displacement of and systematic racial discrimination against the Palestinian people. By engaging in this agreement, the EU sends the message that it effectively condones the Israeli apartheid regime, and that it will not challenge Israel on its massive violations of Palestinian rights.

It is urgent that all civil society organizations, and especially those in Europe, take action against the EU-Israel Association Agreement. We must not submit to the EU and Israel’s attempt to manipulate the democratic process by silencing the voice of civil society. We must respond to this injustice, and we must ensure that our collective voice to oppose the agreement is heard loud and clear.

We therefore ask you to:

1) Send a letter or a fax to your MEP (Pro forma letter attached below)

For a list of MEPs: http://tinyurl.com/5q5zqn

2) Phone your MEP or meet with them in person

3) Have your organization, institution, union, or network endorse the Palestinian BNC call against the EU-Israel Association Agreement, and send it to your MEP.

http://www.bdsmovement.net/?q=node/179


Please let us know when you have contacted your MEP!


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Pro forma letter:


Dear Member of European Parliament,

As a member of your constituency and as a concerned citizen of the world, I urge you to vote against the EU-Israel Association Agreement on December 4. This agreement involves the strengthening of a broad spectrum of ties with Israel - including economic, trade, academic, security and diplomatic relations - at a time when the European Union should be challenging Israel and holding it accountable for its persistent violations of human rights and international law.

The EU is well aware of Israel’s ongoing illegal occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the massive colonization of the latter; after all, the EU member-states have regularly voted for UN resolutions condemning Israel’s human rights violations, collective punishment and construction of settlements and the Wall. Moreover, in 2002 the EU Parliament voted to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement on the grounds of Israel’s violations of human rights. Since these violations are still ongoing, there is no reason for the EU to change its decision to suspend the agreement.

Indeed, Israel still maintains its criminal one-year-long siege on Gaza - described by the current UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights, Prof. Richard Falk as a “prelude to genocide” - that has already cost the lives of hundreds of patients, mainly children and elderly, all denied freedom of movement to access treatment outside Gaza. Israel’s siege has intentionally and systematically impoverished hundreds of thousands of civilians in Gaza, more than 50% by now, shutting down most of the industrial sector and ruining agriculture. Most vital infrastructure has been destroyed and the economy has completely collapsed; malnourishment among children has increased sharply, as noted in various UN reports.

Furthermore, Israel has continuously disregarded basic human rights by the enclosure and forced displacement of entire Palestinian communities behind the illegal Wall, the imprisonment of thousands of Palestinians without trial, and its policy of extra-judicial assassination. Israel has also stubbornly refused, for over 60 years and despite its obligations under international law, to recognize and implement the right of millions of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes, as stipulated in UNGA resolution 194. Last, but certainly not least, for 60 years, Israel has enacted a system of state-sanctioned racial discrimination against Palestinians with Israeli citizenship in vital domains, including land ownership and employment, simply because they are “non-Jews.”

As such, I am appalled that the EU refuses to take concrete action to condemn Israel on any of these accounts. Instead, the EU is proposing to turn a blind eye to Israel’s violations of Palestinian rights by deepening its relations with the occupying power. These sorts of cooperation agreements that increase Israel’s relationships with the international community are one of Israel’s primary means of its ongoing occupation, the displacement of and systematic racial discrimination against the Palestinian people. By engaging in this agreement, the EU sends the message that it effectively condones the Israeli apartheid regime, and that it will not challenge Israel on its massive violations of Palestinian rights.

I therefore urge you, as a representative of the European Union and as a global citizen of conscience, to vote against the EU-Israel Association Agreement. In so doing, you would be heeding the call from the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC), which represents the entire spectrum of Palestinian civil society, and which has been endorsed by over 100 international organizations, to exert pressure on Israel and to isolate it, rather than to strengthen ties with it (http://bdsmovement.net/?q=node/179). This call was taken up by Father Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann, President of the UN General Assembly, who urged the United Nations to consider following the lead of this generation of civil society who are calling for a campaign of boycott, divestment, and sanctions to pressure Israel to end its violations. I believe it is high time that the EU adopt this position as well.

As such, your vote is an important one in suspending the agreement, thereby standing up to injustice in Palestine. I urge you to listen to your constituents, and to the hundreds of civil society organizations from around the world who call upon the EU to stop rapprochement with Israel, and instead to hold it accountable for its ongoing violations of human rights and international law.

Sincerely,


==========================================

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) aims to raise public awareness about the occupation of Palestine and the struggle of the Palestinian people. PSC seek to bring pressure on both the British and Israeli government to bring their policies in line with international law. PSC is an independent, non-governmental and non-party political organisation with members from communities across the UK. Join PSC today!

Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Box BM PSA
London
WC1N 3XX

Tel: 020 7700 6192
Fax: 020 7609 7779

Email: info@palestinecampaign.org

Web: www.palestinecampaign.org

2 comments:

Michael said...

Actually I sent this to around 12 MEPs. One of them called Ashley Mote respojnded "Any lasting settlement in the Middle East will become possible only when
the muslims accept that Israel has a right to exist."
I replied "It's not Israel's right to exist that is in doubt, it's Palestine's."
Mote replied " Then they should stop killing Israeli civilians and bombing them in the streets."

To which I replied " These Palestinian rocket have only killed 8 Israelis in 6 years, that's just about the average DAILY amount of Palestinians that get killed by Israel.
During 2005/6 Hamas agreed a ceasefire with Israel that Hamas abided with for 16 months, during that time Israel killed over 400 Palestinians, a large
proportion of which were children. The ceasefire ended when Israel
killed a family of 9 sitting on a beach. The fact is Israel continues to kill Palestinians with or without resistance. I really cannot see any excuse for you to continue to support them , they are now starving 1.5 million Palestinans into submission in
an illegal act of collective punishment."

To which Mote replied "Any lasting settlement in the Middle East will become possible only when
the muslims accept that Israel has a right to exist".
To which I finally replied " I just looked you up on the internet because you were beginning to interest me. Apparently you wrote "The Arabs have a declared aim to "wipe Israel off the map". I don't think I've ever read anything quite as ignorant as that, how did you ever become an MEP?

I suppose this is a reference to what Ahmadinejad is supposed to have said?
Would it interest you to know he said nothing of the sort, actually are you really interested in the truth? What he actually said can be found at http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/30/weekinreview/30iran.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

You then went on to write even more tripe "They have twice gone to war to achieve it, both times with much superior weaponry and numbers of men." To start with those at war with Israel have never in history had superior
weaponry. Israel has attacked their neighbours in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982 and again in 2006 to mention just the major violations of International
Law.

Israel has never shown any interest in making peace and continue to ignore several UN Resolutions, they refuse to allow their nuclear facilities to be
inspected, Israel played a leading part in supplying false nformation about Iraq and encouraging the illegal invasion. Now they are spreading falsehoods about Iran's non-existent nuclear weapons. In addition Israel is the 4th
largest arms supplier in the world , willing to sell to anyone that has the cash. They played a leading part in Georgia's attack on S. Ossetia having over 2,000 military advisors in Georgia at the time.
It seems to me that you life has always been one big fraud, never thought about resigning your waste of space job as a MEP?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/6951841.stm

MEP found guilty of fraud charges
An MEP for South East England has been convicted of 21 charges of fraud.
Ashley Mote, 71, had started claiming income support and benefits after his
business collapsed."

Anonymous said...

LOL Michael, I enjoyed your exchange with that dude.