We, the undersigned, the justice and peace loving citizens of India, who met on the 1st August 2017 in New Delhi, have resolved to prefer the following Appeal to Govt of India and those who are concerned with the life, livelihood, freedom of Religion and the dignity of Palestinians:
- Recognizing that the unjust Balfour Declaration of 1917 has encouraged Jews who live across the world to move to Palestine with the slogan ‘Land without people will be the land for people with out land’;
- Considering that certain Western Govts have succumbed to the call of Christian Zionists to support the position of Israelis that ‘Jews are the chosen people of Yahweh and Palestine is their promised land’;
- Sensing that the Israelis have thronged in Palestine, declared the State of Israel in 1948, established settlements and forced Palestinians to flee for life as refugees and denied their right to return even today;
- Acknowledging that the native Palestinians both - Christians and Muslims- were crushd and pushed to West Bank and Gaza and there too they are not allowed to live with safety and dignity;
- Coming to know that Israelis have always an eye on Jerusalem as their ancestoral city and in 1967 declared Jerusalem as their capital much against to the will of International Community and also the position of UN and avariciously encompassed the Holy places in East Jerusalem which is meant for all the three religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam;
- Realizing that Israelis have enacted draconian laws to torture Palestinians with the accusation of Militants / Terrorists, raised Walls to divide and deny free access of Palestinians to their land and livelihood;
- Understanding that Israeli Police and Military unleash all crude forms of torture and instill fear culture in the minds of all Palestinians, especially, the aged, women and children;
- Sensing that Palestinians are excluded, disabled, restricted and oppressed from getting access to all Socio, economic, cultural and political mainstreams;
- Having come to know that the 100 years of unjust oppression, exclusion and violence gets further intensified and aggravated by the Israeli authorities;
- Sensing that Indian Govt, off late, has deviated from its long standing diplomatic postion of supporting Palestinians for gaining their life, land, dignity and freedom of religion;
- Realizing the major shift from the laudable values and principles of democracy, non-violence and non-alliance of Govt of India but to provide importance mainly to trade, business, research, economic/military co-operation;
- Noting that Govt of India abstained from voting in UN to condemn Israel for its attack on civilians in Gaza strip;
WE APPEAL:
To mount pressure on Israeli government to recognize that Palestine is the homeland for Palestinians as well;
To raise with Israeli Govt to respect and recognize the land, life, livelihood, dignity, freedom of religion of Palestinians as they are the natives of that soil;
To talk to Israeli Govt to recognize that the Holy places that exist in East Jerusalem is historically meant for all the three religions – Judaism, Islam and Christianity - and thereby Israel should desist from deny anyone’s access to such Holy places;
To request Israel to respect the feelings and the will of international community and the Resolutions of The UN to accept the two nation theory for both Israelis and Palestinians live together with out animosity;
To put pressure on Israel to stop building more Walls and demolish the existing ones to allow the free movement of Palestinians;
To demand Israeli Govt to retreat from the occupied areas of West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem and Golan Heights and to cease torturing the aged, women and children particularly;
To mount pressure on Israeli Govt to respect the fundamental Human Rights provisions earmarked in UDHR to respect liberty, equality, freedom and dignity of fellow Palestinians;
To rethink Govt of India’s shift on its diplomatic position of supporting the cause of Palestinians in The UN;
To review the Govt of India’s position of forging agreements with Israel for economic co-operation and military deals at the cost of the justice and peace of Palestinians.
Signatories - Name and Position
Dr. Zafarul-Islam Khan – Chairperson, Delhi MinorityCommission, New Delhi
Sr. Sneha Gill (Anastasia) - Member – Delhi Minority Commission & Advocate, New Delhi
Mr. Aariz Mohammed, Centre for Social Justice, Hyderabad
Ms. Reshma Shireen Jaffrey, Lawyer-New Delhi
Mr. Samuel Jeyakumar, NCCI, New Delhi
Rev Fr. Dr. Devasahayaraj, CBCI, New Delhi
Rev Fr. Ajaya Kumar Singh, Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
Rev Fr. Arunmozhi Ramesh, Lawyer, New Delhi
Rev Fr. Dr. Victor Edwin, Vidyajyothi Centre for Christian-Muslim Relations, New Delhi
Rev Dr. Deenabandhu Manchala, UCC- USA
Mr. Franklin Caesar Thomas, Lawyer, Supreme Court of India, New Delhi
Mr. Sethu Mahendran, Lawyer, SC of India, New Delhi
Ms. Annie Namala, CSEI, New Delhi
Dr. Rameshnathan, NDMJ, New Delhi
Mr. Paul Divakar, NCDHR-SWADHIKAR, New Delhi
Rev Dr. Vincent Manoharan, NDCW, New Delhi
New Delhi – 01.08.2017