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The elimination of
the Palestinian national presence west of the Jordan River is
 implicit
in the long-term aims of the Israeli right wing. A violent,
apocalyptic driving-out of the entire Palestinian population is
explicitly advocated by the rightmost political circles. What has
actually been taking place since the beginning of the 35 years of
Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but at an
unprecedented rate for the last two years, is a
systematic process of demolition of Palestinian private and public
property, and mass expropriation of Palestinian land on behalf of
settlers. The guiding principle is the effort to minimize the size
of the area actually inhabited by Palestinians. At the same time,
huge-scale harassment has been taking place, by means of prolonged
curfews, road-blocks, humiliations, beatings, military invasions of
densely populated areas, detentions of thousands without trial under
sub-humane conditions, obstruction of access to work,
medical care, schools and universities, and a host of other means.
The soldiers were given license to treat any Palestinian as a
potential terrorist. Millions of Palestinians have been reduced by
Israeli government policies to life in fearsome ghettos. Most are
now subsisting under the poverty line, on savings or handouts from
humanitarian organizations.
The ever-intensifying oppressive measures are being inflicted on
Palestinians by the Israeli government, ostensibly to fight terror.
We unequivocally condemn terrorist attacks against Israeli
civilians. There can be no justification for acts of violence
against any unarmed people. However, the Israeli policies are not a
way to reduce terror; rather, they promote it, as evidenced by the
dramatic increase in terror acts during the last two years. The
terror acts are then cynically used by Prime Minister Sharon as a
pretext to inflict more damage and hardships on the Palestinians,
and to further de-legitimize their existence in the occupied
territories in the perception of the Israelis. THE PALESTINIAN
PRESENCE
STANDS IN THE WAY OF SHARON'S LIFE-LONG VISION OF GREATER ISRAEL,
WITH SETTLERS SUPPLANTING PALESTINIANS. THIS OBJECTIVE IS
TRANSPARENT TO ANYBODY WHO FOLLOWS WHAT HIS GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN
ACTUALLY DOING, rather than listening to the frequently uttered but
empty declarations about peace intentions, "once the security
problems are solved".
The Israeli society pays a high price for the attempts of its
politicians to extend the Israeli domination, and for their
addiction to territorial expansion. The drive to develop Israel as a
modern, productive and tolerant society was cruelly truncated. This
drive has been evident in periods of hopeful peace negotiations with
neighboring Arab states, and with Palestinians.
Fatalistic resignation to the vicious circle of fear, oppression,
violence and counter-violence is depriving the whole society of
positive energy, forward looking projects and hope. The drain on the
state resources by the war effort and the expansion of the
settlements and the concurrent loss of investment result in large
scale unemployment and economic recession. Large sectors of the
Israeli society are denied access to a
decent standard of living, to decent education, and to productive
integration into modern technological and cultural world. Instead,
backward-looking ultra-nationalistic ideologies are taking firm hold
on the social and political scene. Young Israeli soldiers sent to
implement the brutal occupation measures are likely to be morally
scarred for life.
The ongoing devastation of Palestine must be stopped, for the sake
of both Palestine and Israel.
Prof. Zach Adam, Prof. Colman Altman, Dr. Janina
Altman, Dr. Issam Aburiya, Dr. Amotz Agnon, Dr. Shmuel
Amir, Prof Daniel Amit, Prof. Zalman Amit, Dr. Yossi
Amitay, Prof. Michael Ardon, Dr. Judith Avrahami,
Prof. (Emeritus) Shalom Baer, Dr. Outi Bat-El, Prof.
Maya Bar-Hillel, Prof. Daniel Bar-Tal, Prof Ron
Barkai, Dr. Anat Barnea , Prof. Matania Ben-Arzi, Ofra
Ben-Arzi, M.A., Dr. Shmuel Ben-Dor, Prof. Ziva
Ben-Porat, Dr. Louise Bethlehem, Prof. Anat Biletzki,
Dr. Jose Brunner, Dr. Ido Bruno, Prof. Victoria Buch,
Prof. Ruth Butler, Raz Chen-Morris, Dr. Eliot Cohen,
Dr. Raya Cohen, Dr. Veronica Cohen, Dr. Leo Corry,
Dr. Michael Dahan, Prof. David Degani, Prof. Sidra
DeKoven Ezrahi, Dr. David De-Vries, Athena Elizabeth
DeRasmo, Prof. Tommy Dreyfus, Dr. Otniel E. Dror, Dr.
Freema Elbaz-Luwisch, Prof. Emmanuel Farjoun, Dr.
Elizabeth Freund,Prof. Gideon Freudenthal,
Dr. Iris Fry , Prof. Michael Fry , Michal Gal, Prof.
Chaim Gans, Dr. Ido Geiger, Prof. Avner Giladi, Prof.
Rachel Giora, Dr. Snait Gissis, Prof. Eli Glasner,
Dr. Daphna Golan, Prof. Oded Goldreich, Dr. Ofra
Goldstein-Gidoni, Dr. Neve Gordon, Prof. Lev Grinberg
, Prof. Yossi Guttman, Dr. Ruth HaCohen, Prof. Uri
Hadar, Dr. Jeff Halper, Yuval Halperin, Shoshana
Halper, M.A., Prof Don Handelman, Prof. Galit
Hasan-Rokem, Prof. Avram Heffner, Dr. Sara Helman, Dr.
Yitzhak Hen,
Prof. Hanna Herzog, Prof. Ze'ev Herzog , Prof. Hannan
Hever, Prof. Peter Hillman, Uri Horesh, Prof. Ehud
Hrushovski, Tal Itzhaki, Prof. Eva Jablonka,
Dr. Devorah Kalekin-Fishman, Prof. Naftali Kaminski,
MD, Prof. Jacob Katriel, Prof. Tamar Katriel,
Dr. Shoshana Keiny, Prof. Baruch Kimmerling, Judy
Kupferman, Dr. Orna Kupferman, Prof. Raz Kupferman,
Dr. Ron Kuzar, Dr. Idan Landau, Prof. Hubert Law-Yone,
Daphna Levit, Joyce Livingstone, MS,
Prof. Ram Loevy , Dr. Orly Lubin, Haim Luski, Prof.
Ruth Manor, Prof Uri Maor, Dr. Anat Matar, Dr. Nina
Mayorek, Dr. Sara Meilijson , Prof. Isaac Meilijson,
Prof. Amnon Meisels, Prof. Ben Tzion Munitz, Dr.
Doron Narkiss, Prof. (Emeritus) Gad Nathan, Dr. Isaac
(Yanni) Nevo, Prof. Ami Oren, Prof. Avraham Oz, Ronie
Parciack, Dr. Nurit Peled-Elhanan,
Prof. Yoav Peled, Dr. Kobi Peter, Dr. Yuri Pines, Dr.
Uri Ram , Dr. Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin, Dr. Ofra Rechter,
Prof. Ya'acov Ritov, Dr. Daniel Rohrlich, Prof Freddie
Rokem, Dr. Dana Ron, Dr. Moshe Ron,
Prof. Tova Rosen, Dr. Maya Rosenfeld, Dr. Zeev Rotem,
Dr. Amalia Sa'ar, Dr. Ilan Saban, Prof. Benny Shanon,
Dr. Nita Schehet, Dr. Christoph Schmidt, Prof. Avraham
Schweiger, Dr. Gideon Shelach, Ricki Shiv, Prof. Moshe
Shokeid, Prof. Idan Segev, Prof. Leon Sheleff, Rinah
Sheleff, M.A., Prof. Nomi Shir, Prof. David Shulman,
Prof. Anna Sfard, Marcos Wasem, Dr. Amiel Vardi, Dr.
Vered Vinitzky, Renata Wolfson, M.A.,
Smadar Tabenkin-Ezer, M.A., Dr. Zvi Tauber,
Dr. Dudy Tzfati, Rakefet Zalashik,
Dr. Niza Yanay, Dr. Michael Yogev, Prof. Joseph
Zeira, Dr. Moshe Zuckermann, Prof. Moshe Zimmermann
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