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More than 680 leaders around the world have called on President Biden to live up to his commitments and protect Palestinian human rights.
Dear President of Biden,
The coalition of global leaders we sign below — from civil society to business, the arts and faith communities, politics, and Nobel laureates — urges the U.S. leadership to take steps to ensure Israel’s institutionalized domination and oppression of the Palestinian people and their basic human rights. A lasting and just peace – for all people – will be elusive if US policy upholds the political status quo of justice and accountability.
Your administration has advocated a foreign policy “based on the defense of democracy and the protection of human rights”. More recently, you said, “I believe that Palestinians and Israelis alike deserve to live in security and have equal measures of freedom, prosperity and democracy.” For Palestinians, the space between these expressions and everyday life cannot be wider.
Even after a formal ceasefire, violence against Palestinians by Israeli police and settlers continues. The expropriation forced by Palestinians throughout the occupied West Bank, including families living in the Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan districts of East Jerusalem, and the aggressive actions by Israeli forces against peaceful and worshipful protesters at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. an unbalanced system of government. These policies illuminate the social fabric of communities and undermine progress towards a democratic, just and peaceful future. The logic behind them has displaced 72,000 Palestinians in Gaza, who must also survive in the ongoing humanitarian crisis caused by a 14-year blockade.
Going forward, the United States needs to address the root causes of the violence that has been ignored by successive administrations. Your administration must exert a united diplomatic pressure to end the growing discrimination and systemic oppression and to hold accountable the Israeli authorities for violating Palestinian rights.
Only the consistent application of foreign policy based on rights can indicate to Israeli leaders that violations of international law will not be accounted for. Mr. President, it is time to establish a new reference in American foreign policy that is directed by the judiciary and paves the way for a lasting peace.
Signed,
Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Jan Egeland, Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council and former United Nations Coordinator for Humanitarian and Emergency Assistance.
Kumi Naidoo, African Global Ambassador for Justice, Peace and Dignity and former International Executive Director of Greenpeace International
And 680 global leaders from 75 countries.
A full list of signatories can be found here.
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