1. No one is Exempt from International Law, Statement by the Palestine Right of Return Coalition on International Refugee Day, 20 June 2005
2. Palestinian Civil Society Call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel
Until it Complies with International Law and Universal Principles of Human Rights, 9 July 2005
3. Letter from Israeli NGOs to the UN Secretary General Regarding the Implementation of the ICJ Advisory Opinion on the Wall, July 2005

1. No one is Exempt from International Law, Statement by the Palestine Right of Return Coalition on International Refugee Day, 20 June 2005

Peace and stability in the Middle East cannot be achieved without a just solution to the Palestinian refugee question based on their inalienable right to return home. All states are subject to international human rights and humanitarian law. Israel is no exception.

For more than 57 years, Israel has continually rejected Palestinian right of return and excluded the issues from peace negotiations. Although this right is enshrined in customary international law and numerous UN resolutions, in particular UN General Assembly resolution 194 and UN Security Council resolution 237, Palestinian refugees remain prohibited from returning to their homes and properties in Israel and the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Moreover, no enforcement mechanisms exist to prevent ongoing Israeli colonization and de facto annexation of more Palestinian land by means of Israel's illegal Wall, expansion of Jewish colonies, and a regime of land laws that acquires Palestinian land for the exclusive benefit of Jewish Israeli. Israel's illegal forced displacement and transfer of population through coercive acts without grounds permitted in international law amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes.

All refugees are entitled to protection, but most Palestinian refugees have remained without effective protection, including in Western countries signatory to the 1951 Convention relating to the status of Refugees. Urgent measures must be implemented in order to guarantee the physical safety and fundamental human rights of exiled Palestinians, particularly in Iraq and Lebanon. However, international efforts at forced resettlement in Arab host states provide neither protection nor a durable solution for Palestinian refugees. Such efforts are illegal and strongly rejected by the people and states in our region.

In light of Israel's blatant disregard for international law, UN resolutions and the ICJ Wall advisory opinion, we call upon concerned members of the international community to boycott and divest from Israel. The international community must pressure states, regional organizations and private companies to impose sanctions on Israel until it dismantles the illegal Wall, ends its prolonged belligerent occupation and colonial enterprise, and implements the fundamental rights of Palestinian refugees to return, restitution and compensation.

The plight and protracted forced exile of Palestinian refugees remains one of the longest-standing unresolved refugee questions in the world. Palestinian refugees compose an estimated 7 million of a total refugee population of 17 million. An important number of the Palestinian population, around 5.3 million, is also without a nationality, and therefore stateless. Refugees are entitled to choose one of three durable solutions - return to their homes and properties, or integration in the host country and resettlement in a third country, of which only return is an inalienable right. The right of return is a fundamental, non-negotiable, individual and collective right.

The Palestine Right-of-Return Coalition:
ADRID – Association for the Defense of the Rights of the Internally Displaced
Aidun Lebanon
Aidun Syria
Al Awda - Palestine Right-to-Return Coalition, U.S.A
Al-Awda Toronto
BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, Bethlehem
Committee for the Defense of Palestinian Refugee Rights, Nablus
Forum of Palestinian NGOs in Lebanon
High Committee for the Defense of the Right of Return, Jordan
Palestine Right-of-Return Confederation-Europe (Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden)
Popular Committees – West Bank and Gaza Strip Refugee Camps
Union of Women's Activity Centers – West Bank Refugee Camps
Union of Youth Activity Centers – Palestine Refugee Camps
Yafa Cultural Center, Balata camp, Nablus

and:
Abna' al-Balad Society, Nablus
Al-Ard Committees for the Defense of the Right of Return, Syria
Al-Doha Chilren's Cultural Center, Bethlehem
Alrowwad Cultural and Theatre Training Center, Aida refugee camp
Arab Students' Collective, University of Toronto
Committee for Definite Return, Syria
FARAH – Palestinian Center for Children, Syria
Ghassan Kanafani Forum, Syria
Jafra Youth Center, Syria
Jermana Youth Forum for the Defense of the Right of Return, Syria
Laji Center, Aida camp, Bethlehem
Local Committee for Social Development, Nablus
Local Committee for Rehabilitation of the Disabled, Nablus
Palestinian National Committee for the Defense of the Right of Return, Syria
'Our Palestine' – Commission for the Defense of the Right of Return, Syria
Palestinian Return Association, Syria
Palestinian Return Forum, Syria
Palestinian Youth Forum for the Right of Return, Syria
RORC – International Right of Return Congress
Sumoud-Political Prisoners Solidarity Group, Toronto
Social Development Center, Nablus
Yafa for Education and Culture, Nablus
Yazour Charitable Society, Nablus

2. Palestinian Civil Society Call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel
Until it Complies with International Law and Universal Principles of Human Rights, 9 July 2005

One year after the historic Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which found Israel’s Wall built on occupied Palestinian territory to be illegal, Israel continues its construction of the colonial Wall with total disregard to the Court’s decision. Thirty eight years into Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian West Bank (including East Jerusalem), Gaza Strip and the Syrian Golan Heights, Israel continues to expand Jewish colonies. It has unilaterally annexed occupied East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights and is now de facto annexing large parts of the West Bank by means of the Wall. Israel is also preparing - in the shadow of its planned redeployment from the Gaza Strip - to build and expand colonies in the West Bank. Fifty seven years after the state of Israel was built mainly on land ethnically cleansed of its Palestinian owners, a majority of Palestinians are refugees, most of whom are stateless. Moreover, Israel's entrenched system of racial discrimination against its own Arab-Palestinian citizens remains intact.

In light of Israel’s persistent violations of international law, and

Given that, since 1948, hundreds of UN resolutions have condemned Israel’s colonial and discriminatory policies as illegal and called for immediate, adequate and effective remedies, and

Given that all forms of international intervention and peace-making have until now failed to convince or force Israel to comply with humanitarian law, to respect fundamental human rights and to end its occupation and oppression of the people of Palestine, and

In view of the fact that people of conscience in the international community have historically shouldered the moral responsibility to fight injustice, as exemplified in the struggle to abolish Apartheid in South Africa through diverse forms of boycott, divestment and sanctions;

Inspired by the struggle of South Africans against Apartheid and in the spirit of international solidarity, moral consistency and resistance to injustice and oppression,

We, representatives of Palestinian civil society, call upon international civil society organizations and people of conscience all over the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa in the Apartheid era. We appeal to you to pressure your respective states to impose embargoes and sanctions against Israel. We also invite conscientious Israelis to support this Call, for the sake of justice and genuine peace.

These non-violent punitive measures should be maintained until Israel meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law by:

1. Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall;
2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and
3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.

Endorsed by: The Palestinian political parties, unions, associations, coalitions and organizations below represent the three integral parts of the people of Palestine: Palestinian refugees, Palestinians under occupation and Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Unions, Associations, Campaigns

Council of National and Islamic Forces in Palestine
(coordinating body for the major political parties in the Occupied Palestinian Territory)
Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizen's Rights (PICCR)
Union of Arab Community Based Associations (ITTIJAH), Haifa
Forum of Palestinian NGOs in Lebanon
Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU)
General Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW)
General Union of Palestinian Teachers (GUPT)
Federation of Unions of Palestinian Universities’ Professors and Employees
Consortium of Professional Associations
Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees (UPMRC)
Health Work Committees – West Bank
Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC)
Union of Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC)
Union of Health Work Committees – Gaza (UHWC)
Union of Palestinian Farmers
Occupied Palestine and Syrian Golan Heights Advocacy Initiative (OPGAI)
General Union of Disabled Palestinians
Palestinian Federation of Women's Action Committees (PFWAC)
Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI)
Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign
Union of Teachers of Private Schools
Union of Women's Work Committees, Tulkarem (UWWC)
Dentists' Association – Jerusalem Center
Palestinian Engineers Association
Lawyers' Association
Network for the Eradication of Illiteracy and Adult Education, Ramallah
Coordinating Committee of Rehabilitation Centers – West Bank
Coalition of Lebanese Civil Society Organizations (150 organizations)
Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR), Network of Student-based Canadian University Associations

Refugee Rights Associations/Organizations

Al-Ard Committees for the Defense of the Right of Return, Syria
Al-Awda Charitable Society, Beit Jala
Al Awda - Palestine Right-to-Return Coalition, U.S.A
Al-Awda Toronto
Aidun Group – Lebanon
Aidun Group – Syria
Alrowwad Cultural and Theatre Training Center, Aida refugee camp
Association for the Defense of the Rights of the Internally Displaced (ADRID), Nazareth
BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, Bethlehem
Committee for Definite Return, Syria
Committee for the Defense of Palestinian Refugee Rights, Nablus
Consortium of the Displaced Inhabitants of Destroyed Palestinian Villages and Towns
Filastinuna – Commission for the Defense of the Right of Return, Syria
Handala Center, 'Azza (Beit Jibreen) refugee camp, Bethlehem
High Committee for the Defense of the Right of Return, Jordan
(including personal endorsement of 71 members of parliament, political parties and unions in Jordan)
High National Committee for the Defense of the Right of Return , Ramallah
International Right of Return Congress (RORC)
Jermana Youth Forum for the Defense of the Right of Return, Syria
Laji Center, Aida camp, Bethlehem
Local Committee for Rehabilitation, Qalandia refugee camp, Jerusalem
Local Committee for Rehabilitation of the Disabled, Deheishe refugee camp, Bethlehem
Palestinian National Committee for the Defense of the Right of Return, Syria
Palestinian Return Association, Syria
Palestinian Return Forum, Syria
Palestine Right-of-Return Coalition (Palestine, Arab host countries, Europe, North America)
Palestine Right-of-Return Confederation-Europe (Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden)
Palestinian Youth Forum for the Right of Return, Syria
PLO Popular Committees – West Bank refugee camps
PLO Popular Committees – Gaza Strip refugee camps
Popular Committee – al-'Azza (Beit Jibreen) refugee camp, Bethlehem
Popular Committee – Deheishe refugee camp, Bethlehem
Shaml - Palestinian Diaspora and Refugee Center, Ramallah
Union of Women's Activity Centers – West Bank Refugee Camps
Union of Youth Activity Centers – Palestine Refugee Camps, West Bank and Gaza
Women's Activity Center – Deheishe refugee camp, Bethlehem
Yafa Cultural Center, Balata refugee camp, Nablus

Organizations

Abna' al-Balad Society, Nablus
Addameer Center for Human Rights, Gaza
Addameer Prisoners' Support and Human Rights Association, Ramallah
Alanqa' Cultural Association, Hebron
Al-Awda Palestinian Folklore Society, Hebron
Al-Doha Children’s Cultural Center, Bethlehem
Al-Huda Islamic Center, Bethlehem
Al-Jeel al-Jadid Society, Haifa
Al-Karameh Cultural Society, Um al-Fahm
Al-Maghazi Cultural Center, Gaza
Al-Marsad Al-Arabi, occupied Syrian Golan Heights
Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, Gaza
Al-Nahda Cultural Forum, Hebron
Al-Taghrid Society for Culture and Arts, Gaza
Alternative Tourism Group, Beit Sahour (ATG)
Al-Wafa' Charitable Society, Gaza
Applied Research Institute Jerusalem (ARIJ)
Arab Association for Human Rights, Nazareth (HRA)
Arab Center for Agricultural Development (ACAD)
Arab Center for Agricultural Development-Gaza
Arab Education Institute (AEI) – Pax Christie Bethlehem
Arab Orthodox Charitable Society – Beit Sahour
Arab Orthodox Charity – Beit Jala
Arab Orthodox Club – Beit Jala
Arab Orthodox Club – Beit Sahour
Arab Students' Collective, University of Toronto
Arab Thought Forum, Jerusalem (AFT)
Association for Cultural Exchange Hebron - France
Association Najdeh, Lebanon
Authority for Environmental Quality, Jenin
Bader Society for Development and Reconstruction, Gaza
Canadian Palestine Foundation of Quebec, Montreal
Center for the Defense of Freedoms, Ramallah
Center for Science and Culture, Gaza
Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ramallah- Al-Bireh District
Child Development and Entertainment Center, Tulkarem
Committee for Popular Participation, Tulkarem
Defense for Children International-Palestine Section, Ramallah (DCI/PS)
El-Funoun Palestinian Popular Dance Troupe
Ensan Center for Democracy and Human Rights, Bethlehem
Environmental Education Center, Bethlehem
FARAH – Palestinian Center for Children, Syria
Ghassan Kanafani Society for Development, Gaza
Ghassan Kanafani Forum, Syria
Gaza Community Mental Health Program, Gaza (GCMHP)
Golan for Development, occupied Syrian Golan Heights
Halhoul Cultural Forum, Hebron
Himayeh Society for Human Rights, Um al-Fahm
Holy Land Trust – Bethlehem
Home of Saint Nicholas for Old Ages – Beit Jala
Human Rights Protection Center, Lebanon
In'ash al-Usrah Society, Ramallah
International Center of Bethlehem (Dar An-Nadweh)
Islah Charitable Society-Bethlehem
Jafra Youth Center, Syria
Jander Center, al-Azza (Beit Jibreen) refugee camp, Bethlehem
Jerusalem Center for Women, Jerusalem (JCW)
Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center (JLAC )
Khalil Al Sakakini Cultural Center, Ramallah
Land Research Center, Jerusalem (LRC)
Liberated Prisoners' Society, Palestine
Local Committee for Social Development, Nablus
Local Committee for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled, Nablus
MA'AN TV Network, Bethlehem
Medical Aid for Palestine, Canada
MIFTAH-Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy, Ramallah
Muwatin-The Palestinian Institute for the Study of Democracy
National Forum of Martyr's Families, Palestine
Near East Council of Churches Committee for Refugee Work – Gaza Area
Network of Christian Organizations – Bethlehem (NCOB)
Palestinian Council for Justice and Peace, Jerusalem
Palestinian Counseling Center, Jerusalem (PCC)
Palestinian Democratic Youth Union, Lebanon
Palestinian Farmers' Society, Gaza
Palestinian Hydrology Group for Water and Environment Resources Development-Gaza
Palestinian Prisoners' Society-West Bank
Palestinian Society for Consumer Protection, Gaza
Palestinian University Students' Forum for Peace and Democracy, Hebron
Palestinian Women's Struggle Committees
Palestinian Working Women Society for Development (PWWSD)
Popular Art Centre, Al-Bireh
Prisoner's Friends Association – Ansar Al-Sajeen, Majd al-Krum
Public Aid Association, Gaza
Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies
Saint Afram Association – Bethlehem
Saint Vincent De Paule – Beit Jala
Senior Citizen Society – Beit Jala
Social Development Center, Nablus
Society for Self-Development, Hebron
Society for Social Work, Tulkarem
Society for Voluntary Work and Culture, Um al-Fahm
Society of Friends of Prisoners and Detainees, Um al-Fahm
Sumoud-Political Prisoners Solidarity Group, Toronto
Tamer Institute for Community Education, Ramallah
TCC – Teacher's Creativity Center, Ramallah
Wi'am Center, Bethlehem
Women's Affairs Technical Committee, Ramallah and Gaza (WATC)
Women's Studies Center, Jerusalem (WSC)
Women's Center for Legal Aid and Counseling, Jerusalem (WCLAC)
Yafa for Education and Culture, Nablus
Yazour Charitable Society, Nablus
YMCA-East Jerusalem
Youth Cooperation Forum, Hebron
YWCA-Palestine
Zakat Committee-al-Khader, Bethlehen
Zakat Committee-Deheishe camp, Bethlehem


3. Letter from Israeli NGOs to the UN Secretary General Regarding the Implementation of the ICJ Advisory Opinion on the Wall, July 2005

Your Excellency Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations:

A year has passed since the recommendations of the International Court of Justice in The Hague were made and a resolution was adopted by the General Assembly regarding the illegality of the Annexation Wall being erected by the Israeli government. This Wall is being built on a route the significance of which is not only the de facto annexation of large parcels of Palestinian territory, but also the disruption of life and unimaginable suffering for hundreds of thousands of Palestinian people whose lands are being stolen.

We, the undersigned, Israeli organizations and movements acting for peace, justice and human rights, turn to you and ask that you implement the recommendations via a binding resolution by the Security Council to stop the continued construction of the Separation Wall, to take down the parts that have been built on Palestinian land and to compensate the landowners for the damage caused to their lands in the wake of the building of the Wall.

The Israeli Government is ignoring the recommendations of the Court and the Resolution of the General Assembly and continues to build the Wall at full speed in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, creating encircled enclaves cut off from one another throughout the West Bank. A special effort is being dedicated to the completion of a Wall surrounding Jerusalem, for the Judaization" of the eastern part of the city and the isolation of East Jerusalem, cutting it off from its natural hinterland in the West Bank.

The building of the Wall enables the Israeli Government to expand construction in the settlements and to prepare an infrastructure for new Israeli settlements and projects, especially in areas west of the Wall, up to the “Green Line.”

These lands are the primary source of sustenance and livelihood for tens of thousands of Palestinian residents of the region and are atrophying as a result of the tendentious obstacles the army places on farmers during passage to their lands on the other side of the Wall. This policy has already severely hurt the social and economic fabric of Palestinian society and the continuation of this policy is liable to endanger not only the welfare of Palestinian society but also the chance to establish peace between the Palestinians and us, and ensure the security of the entire region.

Israeli peace activists have participated in the civil protests of Palestinian residents of villages whose lands are being stolen because of the route of the Fence or Wall. During the course of these protests we have experienced the violent suppression by the army and police directed at unarmed protesters demanding their rights. The mechanisms of the Occupation exert pressure and issue sanctions against Palestinian activists leading non-violent civil protest. We warn that this violent behavior towards our Palestinian partners, which is attempting to choke the life out of the civil Palestinian movement, is likely to produce additional cycles of violence.

For the sake of peace between our Palestinian neighbors and us, for the security of the entire region, we call for the implementation without delay of the recommendations of the International Court of Justice and the Resolution of the General Assembly.

Signed by:

Adalah - The Legal Center for Arab Minority in Israel
Bat-Shalom (National Feminist Grassroots Peace Organisation)
Ha'Kampus Lo Shotek (The Campus is not Silent)
Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
MachsomWatch (Women for Human Rights)
New Profile
Ta'ayush: Arab-Jewish Partnership
The Other Israel
Women’s Coalition for Peace
Zochrot