OPPOSE SHARON’S ADDRESS TO THE UN !

Subject: [AL-AWDA-News] ACTION:
> [Please Read, Respond and Forward]
>
> August 23, 2005
> For Immediate Release
>
>
> DEMAND THE IMPLEMENTATION OF UN RESOLUTION 194!
> DEMAND THE RIGHT TO RETURN OF PALESTINIAN REFUGEES TO THEIR HOMELAND!
>
> Between September 12 and 15, 2005 war criminal Ariel Sharon will address the
> U.N. General Assembly’s sixtieth regular session. September 15 marks the
> twenty-third anniversary of the deliberate and systematic massacre of more
> than 2000 Arab civilians, mostly Palestinian and Lebanese, in the Sabra and
> Shatila refugee camps. Then Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, the chief
> architect of Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, was found by an Israeli
> commission of inquiry to have been personally responsible for the massacre.

> On September 10, 2005 the statement below calling for the boycott of
> Sharon’s upcoming address, as well as the implementation of UNGA Resolution
> 194, will be sent to members of the General Assembly and other relevant
> parties. Our goal is to show a broad international consensus in support of
> Palestinian national rights.
>
> The victims of Sabra and Shatila — those who perished, as well as those who
> continue to be saddled with the memories and horrors of the massacre on a
> daily basis, would never forgive us if we were not to do our utmost against
> Sharon’s visit to the UN.
>
> Please join in this important campaign.
>
> We encourage institutional, organizational and individual endorsements.
> We also request that you circulate this statement as widely as possible.>
> Please email your endorsements to: opposesharon@yahoo.com
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> WE, the undersigned, DEMAND that Ariel Sharon not be permitted to address
> the sixtieth regular session of the General Assembly. Sharon’s refusal to
> abide by international law, particularly as it pertains to the right of
> return for Palestinian refugees, is matched only by his long career as a war
> criminal:
>
> * In 1952 Ariel Sharon was appointed commander of special 101 Commando
> Unit which carried out raids on West Bank village of Qibya in which 69
> civilians were murdered, many of them women and children.
>
> * The massacre at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps occurred between
> September 16 and 18, 1982, after the Israeli invading army, then occupying
> Beirut and under Sharon’s overall command as Israel’s Defense Minister,
> permitted members of the Phalange and local allied militias into the camps.

> The over 2000 civilian victims of the massacre included infants, children,
> women, and elderly.
>
> * In February 1983, a three-member official Israeli commission of
> inquiry charged with investigating the events, known as the Kahan
> Commission, named former Defense Minister Sharon as one of the individuals
> who “bears personal responsibility” for the Sabra and Shatila massacre.
>
> * The Al-Aqsa Intifada started after Sharon visited the Al-Aqsa Mosque
> and Noble Sanctuary in Jerusalem under heavy Israeli military and police
> guard. The visit was a calculated step that sparked the expected resistance
> from the oppressed Palestinian people.
>
> Ariel Sharon continues his utter disregard for international law. His
> refusal to abide by scores of United Nations’ resolutions addressing the
> Arab-Israeli conflict is legendary. Only recently, Sharon reiterated his
> rejection of the right of the Palestinian refugees to return to their
> original homes and lands. Such outright disregard for the will of the
> international community constitutes a grave violation of the Universal
> Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and
> Political Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All
> Forms of Racial Discrimination, the European, the American and the African
> Conventions on Human Rights, and the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949.
>
> It also reflects Sharon’s refusal to implement UN resolution 194, which has
> been reaffirmed practically every year since 1948. Generally, the same
> position has been affirmed by the Treaty-Based UN Committees, the regional
> conventions on human rights and practically all human rights NGOs.
>
> We find it peculiar that the General Assembly would permit a war criminal
> like Ariel Sharon to address it, especially considering his explicit
> loathing of the UN and the collective will of the vast majority of its
> member states.
>
> We also DEMAND that the General Assembly embark on enforcing its resolution
> No. 194. The right of the Palestinian refugees and uprooted to return to
> their homeland is a historical right that is guaranteed by international
> law. It is an individual and collective right which cannot be relegated,
> diminished, reduced or forfeited by any representation on behalf of the
> Palestinian people in any agreement or treaty. As such, the Right of Return
> is not substituted or affected in any way by the establishment of a
> Palestinian state in any form. According to international law, agreements
> that purport to trade away the right of refugees to return to their homes,
> or any other inalienable right, are illegal.
>
> The right of refugees to return has been exercised, with the support of the
> international community, in Kosovo, Bosnia, East Timor, Rwanda, Guatemala
> and many other places. Yet, it continues to be ignored and neglected in
> Palestine. This selective enforcement of international law and UN
> resolutions serves to undermine rather than strengthen efforts to build a
> peaceful and just world.
> _______
>
> Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
> PO Box 131352
> Carlsbad, CA 92013, USA
> Tel: 760-685-3243
> Fax: 360-933-3568
> E-mail: info@al-awda.org
> WWW: http://al-awda.org
>
> Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition (PRRC) is the largest
> network of grassroots activists dedicated to Palestinian human rights. We
> are a not for profit tax-exempt educational and charitable 501(c)(3)
> organization as defined by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the United
> States of America. Under IRS guidelines, your donations to PRRC are
> tax-deductible. To make a donation, please go to
> http://www.al-awda.org/donatenow
>

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