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New approach for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East Date: 10-11-2000
GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE EURO-MEDITERRANEAN HUMAN RIGHTS NETWORK ADOPTS RESOLUTION ON A NEW APPROACH FOR A JUST AND LASTING PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND ELECTS NEW EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

(Attached the statement by Adalah and the Arab Human Rights Association (HRA) which was supported by the GA)

On 8 November, 2000, 65 human rights defenders from over 20 countries of the Euro-Mediterranean region concluded the 4th General Assembly of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN). It adopted a resolution that calls for a human rights based approach for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East and supported a statement concerning the killlings of Palestinian citizens of Israel.

The General Assembly elected its executive committee consisting of:

As President, Abdelaziz Bennani, Moroccan Organisations for Human Rights,

As Vice President, Kamel Jendoubi, Committee for the Defense of Freedoms and Human Rights in Tunisia,

As Treasurer, Kerim Yildiz, Kurdish Human Rights Project

As members of the Executive Committee:

Nazmi Gür, Human Rights Association (IHD)

Bahey El Din Hassan, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies

Morten Kjaerum, Danish Center for Human Rights

Eva Norstroem, Swedish Refugee Council

Colm Regan, 80:20 Educating and Acting for a Better World, Ireland

Khader Shkirat, LAW, Palestine.

Driss El Yazami, Human Rights League, France

The General Assembly also adopted a strategy plan, which includes key issues such as the rights of migrants and refugees, human rights education, women’s rights, and dialogue with the governments of the Partnership.

The General Assembly took place in Marseille shortly before the ministerial meeting of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership scheduled for 15-16 November, 2000.

For further information, please contact:

Jelloul Ben Hamida: (+33) 06 82 66 38 32

Marc Schade-Poulsen +45 33 30 88 27/28



RESOLUTION ON

A NEW APPROACH FOR A JUST AND LASTING PEACE BASED ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMANITARIAN LAW

The human rights organisations meeting in Marseille 7-8 November 2000 forming the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) expressed their deep concern regarding the recent developments in the Middle East. The current uprising is, among other factors, a consequence of the continued violations of human rights by Israeli occupation forces including the right to self-determination of the Palestinian People.

On the basis, inter alia, of the report written by the mission which was sent to the area in October 2000 by the EMHRN and other NGOs, the General Assembly strongly condemned the widespread and sustained abuses of human rights combined with failure to adhere to international humanitarian law, in particular the fourth Geneva Convention, in contradiction with the Barcelona Declaration and the Association Agreements;

Convinced that the only way to end the current crisis and creating a new approach for a just and lasting peace is: (1) an immediate end to the Israeli occupation of June 1967, including the evacuation from the settlements in order to fulfil the right to self determination of the Palestinian people; (2) an unconditional adherence by all parties to all international human rights instruments.

Convinced that all the Euro-mediterranean partner countries and the EU bodies have a central role to play in placing human rights and humanitarian law at the heart of any new peace process.

The General Assembly requests the executive committee to promote this new approach by, inter alia:

Strengthening the dialogue with the different organs of the Euro-Med Partnership;

Reinforcing collaboration within the human rights movement in the region as well as at the international level;

Sending fact finding missions to the region in order to investigate human rights violations and identify those responsible;

Support the commission of inquery sent by the UN Commission on Human Rights as decided on 18 October 2000 in Geneva;

Supporting the creation of an international committee to prepare the establishment of a tribunal to bring to justice those who have committed human rights crimes;

Supporting initiatives with the aim of ensuring proper compensation to the victims of human rights violations.



Statement submitted by Adalah , the Legal Center for the Arab Minority and HRA, the Arab Association for Human Rights, to the EMHRN General Assembly, Marseille, 7-8 November 2000

In the intifada of October 2000, 13 Palestinian citizens of the Israeli state were killed by the police. More than 700 were injured and 400 were detained.

In the same areas, especially in the mixed cities, Israeli Jewish citizens committed pogroms against Palestinian residents and their businesses. The police did not protect the Palestinians and in some areas they therefore feel insecure and threatened. In Nazareth at the beginning of the Yom Kippur festivity, the security forces attacked the Palestinian citizens gathered in the streets in order to defend the eastern neighbourhood of the city from the aggression by Israeli Jewish extremists coming from the close Nazareth Illit. Two people were shot dead.

The Palestinian minority economy was also seriously affected by the selective withholding of services by state monopolies, quasi-governmental and private companies and the dismissal of a significant proportion of Palestinian workers, citizens of the state.

The Attorney General of the Israeli State delivered directions to all the prosecutors to ask before Israeli courts to immediately open indictment against the detainees. The Supreme Court of Israel has confirmed this policy.

Despite all these facts, the Prime Minister of Israel, Ehud Barak, refused the Palestinians’ request to appoint an official enquiry committee, a proposal also supported by the Israeli Jewish human rights organisations as well as law professors in Israeli universities. Instead of an effective legal commission empowered by the Israeli Law, the government appointed a committee whose aim is just to clarify the events, with no legal jurisdiction.

Based on these facts we suggest that the EMHRN adopt the following recommendations:

Supporting the creation of an international commission to inquire into the events. Such commission should be headed by former European judges whose reputation and independence is acknowledged. The Commission would hear witnesses and inquire facts in order to deliver results and recommendations publicly both to the Israeli society as well as to the international community.

Supporting the request of the Palestinians of the Israel to investigate and to punish those responsible for the disproportionate use of force and massive violations of human rights during the confrontations of the previous weeks.

Condemning the behaviour of the Israeli security forces against its own citizens requesting them to stop the discriminatory policy and release the Palestinians unlawfully detained.
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