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A solemn declaration by the people of Jerusalem and its environs

UN Resolutions and Palestine

Peace Proposals

Representatives of scores of Jerusalem associations in Amman, Jordan, representing a wide spectrum of Jerusalemites, townships and villages in the environs of Jerusalem, have issued the following solemn declaration in the wake of a series of meetings held in Amman during the month of June, 1999.

Alarmed by what is evidently a sidetracking by their universally recognized right of return to their holy city and a restoration of their properties and, a reconstitution of their national and human rights in their ancestral city, the Jerusalemites have reasserted their unalterable determination to pursue those basic and inalienable rights, and to repudiate by lawful demarcation means any pact, agreement or treaty which has or might be made in denial of those rights and without their consent.

The declaration will be signed by approximately 200,000 Jerusalemites in exile, and reads as follows:

Fortified by the Universal Declaration on human rights of June 1948 and asserted in all subsequent covenants pertaining to civil, social, political, economic and other fundamental rights occurring therefrom.

Unalterably convinced that all peoples are entitled to the inviolability and sanctity of their homes and homeland, including the inalienable right to live in peace and security in their private and communal properties, built, inherited or acquired by due process of law over countless generations,

Further convinced that, the ownership of a right cannot and must not be vitiated by unlawful encumbrances including dispossession by force or other limiting coercive acts of deprivation, dispossession, expulsion, and lapse of time exercised against them individually and collectively,

Sustained in the belief that the fundamental principles, precepts and antecedents of civil jurisprudence governing the law of nations, fully endorse the proposition that little to and land and sovereignty over it belong to a people who have had sustained and uninterrupted possession of a land and habitation on it, from time immemorial,

Recalling that the Palestinian Arab citizens of Jerusalem, the majority of whom are presently in forced dispersal as refugees, displaced or otherwise absent from their ancestral holy city since the aftermath of the 1948 and 1967 wars, and, other cataclysmic conditions,

Recognizing that the General Assembly of the United Nations passed categorical resolutions on the status of Jerusalem including Part III on the status of the city of Jerusalem, within the context of General Assembly resolution No. (181) of 29 November, 1947 relative to partition of Palestine,

And also resolution 194 (Part III) of 11 December 1948 which resolved that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date,

Reminded by the recent tragic and dastardly acts of ethnic cleansing perpetrated in Kosovo by the evil forces of hate and intolerance, of their own tragic plight of cleansing, perpetrated against them by similar forces of hate and racial bigotry in 1948 and thereafter and,

Invigorated by the decisive response and refusal of the international community to allow genocide and ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and Bosnia to pass unpunished and unreversed, culminating in the prompt repatriation of those refugees to their ancestral homes,

Believing in the inalienable right of every people including the Palestinian people for self-determination over their soil, guaranteed by article II of the UN Charter,

Wherefore, in consideration of the above, the people of Jerusalem and its environs, living in Amman, other Jordan cities and towns, and spread beyond over the continents comprising the large majority of Jerusalemites and their offspring outside of Jerusalem, itself, herewith subscribe and affix their signatures to the following Declaration:

1. We, the Palestinian Arab people of Jerusalem, whether at home or in forced dispersal, believe it to be self-evident that our entitlement to return to Jerusalem, and its environs and, to restore our homes and properties therein is sacrosanct, and we hereby declare our unequivocal attachment to that right and our determination to continue to strive for its fulfillment because it emanates from our innermost convictions, our national and religious legacy and, our ages-old civilization.

2. We declare our resolve to work for the preservation and restoration of the Arab character of Jerusalem and its great religious heritage: Islamic, Christian, and Judaic alike, because it is the legacy of our sacred soil and of its sons and daughters over the ages as prophets, reformers, scholastics, legists and freedom-fighters, who cherish their convictions and are ever-willing to sacrifice for its preservation. We are determined to instill and deepen these values and beliefs in our offspring so that it may be a beacon unto their lives and would solidify their lasting attachment to their holy city, no matter how far-fetched it may seem, how obdurate are the obstacles, how long it takes,

3. We reiterate our full-fledged adherence to our historical, undisputed right to Jerusalem as an integral part of Palestine. Our attachment cannot be diluted or vitiated by any treaties, pacts or agreements, imposed by unequal brute force, operating in the matrix of an uneven balance of power, in stark disregard for fundamental principles of right and equity, then norms of justice, international legitimacy and human rights,

4. We hereby reiterate our attachment to our right of return to our holy city and, to live there in dignity, freedom and peace with all its citizens without discrimination, as to race or creed, it being a natural sacred right, reinforced by international legitimacy and the Universal Declaration of human rights.

5. Our entitlement to our lands, properties and homes is an entitlement which cannot be overlooked, circumscribed or lapsed by any deceptive offers of compensation. For the restoration of rights, lands and properties if the first order of priority, as spelled out in General Assembly resolutions. The right to compensation is only after exhaustion of all avenues for return and, after restoration of normal conditions in place of usurpation.

6. We hereby declare our absolute rejection of selling lands and properties no matter how high the price, how exorbitant the temptation. For land is the embodiment of our homeland which we cherish beyond all else. No one should compromise this basic tenet, for such compromise would be tantamount to undermining our existence, our dignity and our right to live in dignity and honor. Those who alienate their lands should be treated with the contempt, scorn and disavowal which they deserve.

7. The signatories to this declaration pledge to abide by its provisions and to respect its tenets and, to circulate it amongst the people of Jerusalem and their sons, daughters, and grandchildren as a pact of honor which must be respected and upheld. Their adherence to it would be the acid test of their behavior by word and deed alike. We commend this Declaration as an important turning point on the long road towards restoring our usurped rights in the city of Jerusalem and the rest of Palestine whose eternal capital is Jerusalem.

8. The signatories to this pact regard its aims to be sacrosanct which must not be violated. It is equivalent to be taking a solemn oath before God, which must not be violated for whatever reason, and no matter how long the distance agead, or how much time it takes, how arduous the road.

God be our witness

Issued in Amman, this day
July 3, 1999