60th Anniversary: Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The statement below has been issued by the Steering Committee of Friends of Sabeel-North America. Please send or take it to your Congressperson and your two Senators, and send it to President Bush and President-Elect Obama, with a short cover note saying how important this is to you.
 

Statement of Friends of Sabeel-North America on the 60th anniversary of the adoption
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

December 10, 2008 marks the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a project that was considered crucial by the United States. We, members of Friends of Sabeel-North America, an organization with close connections to the Christian community in Palestine, urge a rededication by the U.S. to the standards of the Declaration and to international law.  In relation to Palestine, this would mean no U.S. support for Israel's confiscation of Palestinian land to be used for Jewish-only settlements;

• a cessation of Israeli demolition of Palestinian homes, a practice that has torn down over 18,000 homes to date, and continues unabated to this day. Demolition of homes leads to the demolition of families, as we have seen.
• a demolition or repositioning of the apartheid wall between Palestine and Israel in those places where it now lies completely within Palestinian territory rather than on the border. The present positioning was found to be illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004.
• no more targeted assassinations; criminals should be charged and brought to justice. Israel's targeted assassinations have led to the deaths of many innocent civilians in the past. We also call for non-violence by the Palestinian population, but note that recent Palestinian attacks have generally been triggered by prior Israeli actions.
• no taxation of Palestinians without equal availability of services, such as in education.
• right of return for refugees who choose to return; compensation for property losses for all who have lost property.
• no imprisonment without charge, and no torture while in captivity.
• no US aid to Israel until these human rights abuses are corrected.

We call on the Bush administration to insist on adherence to human rights, and the incoming Obama administration quickly to bring to an end the Israeli occupation, which has been dehumanizing to both sides.