NIEUWS NEDERLANDS PALESTINA KOMITEE
Verklaring van Hamilton. Palestijnse gemeenschappen in Canada schrijven open brief aan Abbas.
01/11/2007
Achttien organisaties die lokale Palestijnse gemeenschappen in Canada vertegenwoordigen hebben op een bijeenkomst in het Canadese plaatsje Hamilton besloten een open brief aan Abbas te schrijven waarin ze hun diepgaande zorg uitdrukken over de huidige staat van de Palestijnse nationale beweging.
Hamilton Declaration: An Open Letter to Abbas
October 31, 2007
We stress that any attempt to establish peace and security in the land of
Palestine can only be successful if it is firmly based on natural justice
and the principles of international law.
(Approved by 18 Palestinian Canadian community Associations - Toronto,
Mississauga, Ottawa, Halifax, Vancouver, London Ontario, Hamilton,
Branford, Montreal, al-Awda, Resistance Art)
We the Palestinian Canadian community assembly at the Palestinian National
Voice Preparatory Conference in Hamilton, Canada, issue this letter out of
profound concern regarding the present state of the Palestinian national
struggle and the November 2007 "peace" conference to be hosted by the
United States in Annapolis, Maryland.
While Palestinians still suffer from the disaster of the Oslo Accords, the
Palestinian National Authority has now agreed to attend another round of
flawed negotiations. This time it does so under the pressure of North
American and European nations that have actively collaborated with Israel
to divide the Palestinian people and inflict collective punishment and
other war crimes against them. Even now Israel is being allowed to deny the
Palestinians the basic necessities for a functioning society through a
humiliating siege against the Palestinian people in response to the
exercise of Palestinian democracy and the adherence to its results.
It is our belief that the purpose of the Annapolis round of negotiations is
to extract further critical concessions from the Palestinians while further
delaying final status agreements. In particular, we believe that Israel
will attempt to redefine the conflict with the Palestinians as being only
about ending the occupation of Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, or parts
thereof. Such a redefinition leads the Palestinians into the trap of the
"two-state" formula which subverts our legitimate rights under
international law. We stress that the central issue in the Palestinian
conflict with Israel has always been the dispossession of the Palestinian
people from their land and property ca used by the Zionist ethnic cleansing
of 1948 and the Israeli denial to Palestinians of the basic human right to
return and to live in peace and security as equal citizens on their land.
We further specifically caution you against any recognition of Israel as a
"Jewish" state. Such a recognition would give Israel the façade of moral
and legal legitimacy while critically compromising the full implementation
of the inalienable Palestinian right of return. In addition, it would
contradict the struggle by Palestinian citizens of Israel to maintain their
identity and gain equal rights as citizens. We point out that Israel was
established through United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181
(Partition Resolution) which does not envisage or consent to the
establishment of states on a religious or ethnic basis. In addition, we
underscore that Israel was admitted as a member of the United Nations on
the basis of its having recognized the full right of return of the
Palestinian people on the basis of United Nations General Assembly
Resolution 194 (Right of Return Resolution).
Today it is more apparent than ever that the only basis on which peace can
be brought to the historic land of Palestine is through the establishment
of a unified secular democratic state in which all citizens are equal and
share the same rights and responsibilities regardless of a citizen's religion.
Palestinians can only be properly represented through a delegation
representing the united Palestinian people. Accordingly, it is essential
that the internal dispute between Ramallah and Gaza be resolved before
Palestinians participate in any negotiations with the Israelis. In
addition, the ultimate decision on what Palestinians ca n accept can only
be determined by a fully elected and democratically effective Palestinian
National Council (PNC) representing all of the world's 10 million
Palestinians. Palestinians who are denied the right to participate in
elections to the PNC cannot be regarded as having consented to any
agreement made in their name. The re-activation of the PNC as a fully
elected and democratically effective body would also have the effect of
re-energizing the Palestine Liberation Organization as a legitimate
instrument of the Palestinian people.
We stress that any attempt to establish peace and security in the land of
Palestine can only be successful if it is firmly based on natural justice
and the principles of international law. We reconfirm that the right of the
Palestinian people to return to their homes and property and to receive
full compensation for all damage done to their property as well as for all
other losses associated with the violation of their rights by Zionist
forces is both an inalienable individual and collective right. Any
Palestinian leadership that suggests that the inalienable Palestinian right
of return can be negotiated away abrogates any legitimacy it may have had
to speak in the name of the Palestinian people.
October 31, 2007
We stress that any attempt to establish peace and security in the land of
Palestine can only be successful if it is firmly based on natural justice
and the principles of international law.
(Approved by 18 Palestinian Canadian community Associations - Toronto,
Mississauga, Ottawa, Halifax, Vancouver, London Ontario, Hamilton,
Branford, Montreal, al-Awda, Resistance Art)
We the Palestinian Canadian community assembly at the Palestinian National
Voice Preparatory Conference in Hamilton, Canada, issue this letter out of
profound concern regarding the present state of the Palestinian national
struggle and the November 2007 "peace" conference to be hosted by the
United States in Annapolis, Maryland.
While Palestinians still suffer from the disaster of the Oslo Accords, the
Palestinian National Authority has now agreed to attend another round of
flawed negotiations. This time it does so under the pressure of North
American and European nations that have actively collaborated with Israel
to divide the Palestinian people and inflict collective punishment and
other war crimes against them. Even now Israel is being allowed to deny the
Palestinians the basic necessities for a functioning society through a
humiliating siege against the Palestinian people in response to the
exercise of Palestinian democracy and the adherence to its results.
It is our belief that the purpose of the Annapolis round of negotiations is
to extract further critical concessions from the Palestinians while further
delaying final status agreements. In particular, we believe that Israel
will attempt to redefine the conflict with the Palestinians as being only
about ending the occupation of Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, or parts
thereof. Such a redefinition leads the Palestinians into the trap of the
"two-state" formula which subverts our legitimate rights under
international law. We stress that the central issue in the Palestinian
conflict with Israel has always been the dispossession of the Palestinian
people from their land and property ca used by the Zionist ethnic cleansing
of 1948 and the Israeli denial to Palestinians of the basic human right to
return and to live in peace and security as equal citizens on their land.
We further specifically caution you against any recognition of Israel as a
"Jewish" state. Such a recognition would give Israel the façade of moral
and legal legitimacy while critically compromising the full implementation
of the inalienable Palestinian right of return. In addition, it would
contradict the struggle by Palestinian citizens of Israel to maintain their
identity and gain equal rights as citizens. We point out that Israel was
established through United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181
(Partition Resolution) which does not envisage or consent to the
establishment of states on a religious or ethnic basis. In addition, we
underscore that Israel was admitted as a member of the United Nations on
the basis of its having recognized the full right of return of the
Palestinian people on the basis of United Nations General Assembly
Resolution 194 (Right of Return Resolution).
Today it is more apparent than ever that the only basis on which peace can
be brought to the historic land of Palestine is through the establishment
of a unified secular democratic state in which all citizens are equal and
share the same rights and responsibilities regardless of a citizen's religion.
Palestinians can only be properly represented through a delegation
representing the united Palestinian people. Accordingly, it is essential
that the internal dispute between Ramallah and Gaza be resolved before
Palestinians participate in any negotiations with the Israelis. In
addition, the ultimate decision on what Palestinians ca n accept can only
be determined by a fully elected and democratically effective Palestinian
National Council (PNC) representing all of the world's 10 million
Palestinians. Palestinians who are denied the right to participate in
elections to the PNC cannot be regarded as having consented to any
agreement made in their name. The re-activation of the PNC as a fully
elected and democratically effective body would also have the effect of
re-energizing the Palestine Liberation Organization as a legitimate
instrument of the Palestinian people.
We stress that any attempt to establish peace and security in the land of
Palestine can only be successful if it is firmly based on natural justice
and the principles of international law. We reconfirm that the right of the
Palestinian people to return to their homes and property and to receive
full compensation for all damage done to their property as well as for all
other losses associated with the violation of their rights by Zionist
forces is both an inalienable individual and collective right. Any
Palestinian leadership that suggests that the inalienable Palestinian right
of return can be negotiated away abrogates any legitimacy it may have had
to speak in the name of the Palestinian people.
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