End the Occupation of Palestine 

To:  Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Chairman Yasser Arafat, President George Bush, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson

This effort was organised by a global network of hundreds of women academics, politicians, researchers, students, NGO-workers, journalists, and others working for social justice and against human rights abuses. This network was constituted at the International Women's University (ifu) in Hannover, Germany, 2000.

Despite the many differences between us - geographic, linguistic, economic, cultural, ideological, religious - we are united in the belief that all people have a fundamental right to live in freedom. The domination of one people by another, as is the case of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza strip, and East Jerusalem, is an affront to all humanity.

The occupation has caused the deaths of Palestinians and Israelis alike. Currently we are witnessing an escalation of violence, as the Israeli state, under the guise of the "war against terrorism", enters Palestinian autonomous territories, committing war crimes and severe violations of human rights. These acts are clearly meant to humiliate the Palestinians and terrorize them into submission. But, as is clearly evident, state-sanctioned violence only generates more hate, and more violence. There can be no just and lasting peace as long as the occupation continues.

We call for the Government of the State of Israel to accept the Saudi peace initiative, which demands that Israel completely and permanently withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territory (West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem), evacuate all its settlements in Palestinian territory, and return to its pre-1967 borders.

Deeply distressed over the lives of Israelis lost in desperate suicide attacks by a number of Palestinians, we condemn and call for an immediate end to these attacks.

Horrified by the brutality of Israeli army attacks on people living in refugee camps, in cities, in towns and villages across Palestine, we demand that the Israeli army immediately stop all acts of violence against Palestinian citizens.

We call for Israel to acknowledge its responsibility for the dispossession of Palestinian families and people, and to recognise the right of all Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland and to be compensated.

We call for the United Nations and its member states to provide international peacekeepers to oversee these processes and guarantee the safety of citizens, and to direct resources towards rebuilding Palestinian society and infrastructure.

We call for every national government to use all diplomatic means available to influence Israel to cease the occupation, and to support Palestinians in their efforts to rebuild their nation.

This petition will be handed over to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Chairman Yasser Arafat, and President George Bush on May 20th, 2002. It will thereafter be circulated to Prime Ministers, Presidents, and leaders of nations around the world, as well as to the press.

Sincerely,