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GAZA IS STILL OCCUPIED!
End Israel's Occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem and End the Human Rights Abuses

The Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian people living in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem continues cost-free for Israel but at an extremely high cost for the Palestinians. Although the international community holds a responsibility, under the international legal framework, to protect Palestinian civilians and ensure that Israel comply with its legal obligations, there is insufficient action at the international level with regards to initiatives aimed at ending the occupation and the severe human rights violations being committed by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), that continue with impunity.

The Israeli occupation of the OPT has been ongoing for 39 years and has had a deep impact, in economic and human terms, on the Palestinian people, who are suffering severe economic hardships, most notably in the Gaza Strip where unemployment and poverty rates have now reached 40% and 78% respectively. Despite the implementation of the Israeli Disengagement Plan in September 2005, the Palestinians of Gaza now suffer worse conditions than they were previously to the Disengagement.

Closures are severe, and all border crossings of the Gaza Strip have been partially or fully closed for the majority of the time since the Disengagement, leaving people stranded inside or outside of the Gaza Strip. Internal security has deteriorated and fighting between Palestinian militant groups and extended families has increased. Whereas the Palestinian National Authority should be the legitimate government to address these problems and has a clear plan to do so, the government has been paralyzed due to international withdrawal of funding from the Palestinian democratically elected government, as well as Israel’s abduction and illegal detention of Palestinian MPs and ministers, extra-judicial killings of political figures, and destruction of governmental buildings.

Israel has, since the Disengagement, unilaterally reserved its right to enter the Gaza Strip when it feels its security is being threatened, however these invasions cause hundreds of casualties; in the recent incursion of June 2006, over 200 Palestinians, many of them women and children, were killed in Israeli missile strikes in under two months. More than 336 Palestinians have been extra-judicially killed in the Gaza Strip by Israel since the Disengagement, including 61 children.

Another serious issue that must be addressed is Israel’s policy of collective punishment that continues unabated. Israel continues to punish the Palestinian population by restricting their movement both in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip and maintaining the closures of all borders. In addition, its attack on Gaza’s only power plant on 28 June 2006 has cut off the flow of electricity and running water to most of the population; these are unacceptable measures that constitute a severe breach of international law.

Palestinians need their peace, security and recognition and respect of their human rights, and this petition urges you to contribute to putting an end to this occupation and find ways to exert political pressure Israel to end its human rights violations and return to searching for a solution to the conflict based on principles of justice, international law, human rights and dignity. Many countries have withdrawn their financial aid to the PNA and some continue to furnish weapons to Israel, which effectively assist in its continued demolitions of Palestinian homes and killing of civilians. The international community has a legal and moral obligation under all international law texts, including human rights treaties and the Fourth Geneva Convention as well as international customary law, to ensure that Israel ends these ongoing human rights violations.

This petition is to urge the international community to initiate and contribute to international efforts towards an end to the occupation and towards finding a lasting solution for the Palestinian people based on principles of justice, human rights and international law. High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention must uphold their obligations under Article 1 to ensure the respect of international law, by holding Israel to its obligations under the Convention, including prosecuting violators in their jurisdictions. In addition, we urge governments to immediately undertake the following steps:

• Place pressure on Israel to end the shelling, destruction of homes, targeting of civilian objects and measures of collective punishment;
• Ensure that all crossings from Gaza are reopened to allow the free movement of goods, persons and aid, in accordance with principles of international law;
• Call for the immediate release of all illegally detained Palestinian legislators;
• Those states transferring military weapons and equipment to Israel must ensure that no such transfers are undertaken without a specific and clear commitment from the Israeli authorities that such equipment will not be used for extrajudicial killings or other human rights violations;
• Strongly reject any requests to your government to support Israel’s claim that Gaza is no longer occupied, and ensure that a strong public statement is made to the contrary, clarifying that the occupation in Gaza is ongoing and must end. Such statements amount to State practice in international law and, if mounted, could make new norms materialize.

END

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