30+ Jewish and Palestinian organisations defy EU secrecy
Dismayed by the refusal of EU to publish their own Ramallah and East Jerusalem Heads of Mission findings regarding
Israeli state actions towards non Jewish residents of East Jerusalem, Jewish and other peace groups and Palestinian
Solidarity campaigns around the world and in particular in Europe have decided they must take matters into their own
hands.
Every organisation listed below will publish the Report on their websites. A copy of the report is also attached to this
press release.
The day after the report was shelved by EU foreign ministers at their GAERC meeting in Brussels on December 12th - for
fear of alienating Israel and reducing the EU's influence - Israel announced, in violation of its Road Map obligations,
the building of 300 new homes in the Maale Adumim settlement, the largest in the occupied territories.
Pierre Galand, Senator in the Belgian Parliament and Chairman of the European Co-ordinating Committee of NGOs on the
question of Palestine (ECCP) said: "European diplomats in East Jerusalem and Ramallah had the courage to stress the
alarming situation in East Jerusalem. Their report corroborates the ICJ advisory opinion ruling on the Wall and the
illegal settlements, which led the ECCP to initiate the "European Campaign for Sanctions against the Israeli
Occupation". In order to force EU member states to respect their own commitment to International Law and Human Rights,
we will publish the report on East Jerusalem on our website, despite the EU refusal to do so."
Dan Judelson, Secretary of European Jews for a Just Peace said "The EU are burying their heads in the sand and are thus
co-responsible while East Jerusalem residents face repeated violations of international law and of simple standards of
humanity, all at the hands of the Israeli state. This is not a time for thumb twiddling or inaction; if the EU sits on
this report, we see it as our duty to make it as widely available as we can."
Betty Hunter, General Secretary of the UK Palestinian Solidarity Campaign said: "It is 17 months since the International
Court of Justice declared the apartheid Wall to be an illegal act by an occupying force and that settlement building
should end. While Israel defies this decision, Palestinians are losing their homes, land and livelihood in the West Bank
and East Jerusalem. If European countries continue to collude with this, they are also guilty of oppressing the
Palestinian people."
ENDS