Global leaders urge Biden to end Israeli oppression of Palestinian people
Washington (QNN)- More than 680 global leaders, including politicians, Nobel laureates, academics and peace advocates, have called on US President Joe Biden to take action to help bring an end to Israel’s institutionalized domination and oppression of the Palestinian people.
The global leaders have called on Biden in an open letter published last week, to put “human rights at the centre of US foreign policy” and to bring a “sustainable and just peace.”
“A sustainable and just peace – for all people – will remain elusive if US policy holds to a political status quo devoid of justice and accountability,” the letter said.
“Your administration has committed to a foreign policy “centered on the defense of democracy and the protection of human rights.” More recently, you stated, “I believe the Palestinians and Israelis equally deserve to live safely and securely, and enjoy equal measures of freedom, prosperity, and democracy.””
“For Palestinians, the space between these statements and their daily lives could not be wider,” they stated.
The signatories pointed out that even with a formal ceasefire, the Israeli occupation forces and settlers violence against Palestinians continues.
“The forced dispossession of Palestinians across the occupied West Bank, including families living in the East Jerusalem neighborhoods of Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan, and aggressive actions by Israeli forces against peaceful protesters and worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque, are the latest evidence of a separate and unequal governing system.”
“These policies unravel the social fabric of communities and undermine any progress
toward a democratic, just and peaceful future. The logic driving them has led to the recent displacement of 72,000 Palestinians in Gaza who must also survive the ongoing humanitarian crisis caused by a 14-year blockade.”
The signatories stated that the United States must address the root causes of the violence which the “successive administrations have neglected.”
They called on the Biden administration to apply “concerted diplomatic pressure to help
end the ever-expanding discrimination and systemic oppression and ensure accountability for Israeli authorities that violate Palestinian rights.”
“Only a consistent application of a rights-centered foreign policy can signal to Israel’s leaders that violations of international law will no longer go unaccounted for. Mr. President,” they said, “now is the time to set a new benchmark in American foreign policy that leads with justice and paves the way toward lasting peace.”
The signatories include Israel’s former Attorney General Michael Ben-Yair, former Knesset speaker Avraham Burg, former Irish President Mary Robinson, 2011 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Tawakkol Karman, Israeli academic Ilan Pappé, American professor Noam Chomsky, a number of British MPs, and others.
