CALL FOR BROAD INTERNATIONAL ENDORSEMENT OF PETITION FOR THE PALESTINIAN RIGHT TO RESTITUTION 

BADIL Resource Center 
12 April 1999 
For Immediate Release  

The European Campaign: 
A strategy workshop organized by Oxfam Solidarity/Belgium between March 29 and 1 April 1999 set the foundations for two Palestinian-European Campaigns, a campaign for Palestinian Economic Development, and a Campaign for Palestinian Refugee Rights. Participants were Palestinian and European NGOs (BADIL Resource Center, Forum of Palestinian NGOs-Lebanon, PARC, Belgo-Palestinian Association, Flamish Palestine Committee, Oxfam Solidarity, UCL CERMAC, a.o.), representatives of the ECCP, Belgian parliamentarians and trade unionists, representatives of the European parliament and EU commissions, and PLO and Arab League representatives. The Campaign for Palestinian Refugee Rights will: 

• Empower Palestinian refugee initiatives and NGOs;
• Advocate for the Palestinian right of return;
• Lobby for increased government support for UNRWA. 

The campaign will be launched in Belgium to expand to other European countries in coordination with the ECCP (European Coordinating Committee on Palestine) in the second half of 1999.  

Petition for the Palestinian Right to Right to Restitution: 
Prepared by BADIL Resource Center in cooperation with partners in Palestine, Lebanon and Kuwait, the petition attached below will serve as a tool for mobilization until the official launching of this Campaign on a European level. 

BADIL calls upon all friends and partners to support this initiative by: 
a) collecting signatures of well-known personalities and organizations for our 
petition; 
b) ordering BADIL's information package/International Campaign for Palestinian Refugee Rights; 
c) coordinating the European Campaign effort with Oxfam Solidarity and the  
Belgian solidarity committees (Contact: Hilt Teuwen/Oxfam, tel: 0032-2-5129990; fax: 0032-2-5142813; email: Hilt.Teuwen@oxfamsol.ngonet.be); 
d) coordinating with BADIL on campaign efforts outside Europe  
tel/fax: 00972-2-27473746; email: info@badil.org
  
Petition text: This is the final version of the petition text. Please disregard any other versions you might have received earlier. 

For more information contact: BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, PO Box 728, Bethlehem, Palestine; tel/fax, 972-2-274-7346 or 277-7086; email, info@badil.org.

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