500 Israelis Sent Urgent Letter To UNSG Kofi Anan

GUSH SHALOM - pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033 - http://www.gush-shalom.org/

Press Release - March 11, 2002

A group of 500 Israeli citizens sent an urgent letter to the Secretary General of the UN Koffi Anan demanding the deployment of UN forces in the occupied territories, aiming to stop fire and save human lives. The list of signers include intellectuals, academicians, artists, and peace activists. (a short list of signatures is added here after the letter text). The letter includes a specific plan of intervention, and a call for an international Conference convened by the UN, aiming to implement the relevant UN resolutions and the withdrawal of the Israeli forces to the 4th of June 1967 borders.

For more information contact Lev Grinberg: 052-227432
Date sent: Mon, 11 Mar 2002 22:35:55 +0200
From: Lev Grinberg lev@bgumail.bgu.ac.il

STOP THE FIRE, SEPARATE THE FORCES!

To Mr. Koffi Anan,

We the undersigned, Israeli citizens, demand an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the deteriorating situation in the occupied territories. Recent and current US policies in the region prove that the US is unable to act as a sole and fair broker in the Middle East conflict. Therefore, we call upon the UN Security Council to take a mandatory decision to deploy immediately emergency intervention forces to stop the bloodshed and the widening circle of violence and revenge.

We believe that without a decisive, immediate and impartial international intervention, the circle of violence will expand and endanger the whole area. There is a palpable danger of massacres of hundreds of innocent people.The goal of the intervention of international forces must be to impose an immediate cease-fire, and to separate Israeli and Palestinian forces.

We are aware that no intervention can be effective without a clear political plan for action. We suggest that such a plan should be shaped according to the following path:

a. Israeli forces will withdraw from areas A and B and adjacent areas, that will be occupied by the UN intervention forces. The Israeli withdrawal must be total, including the dismantelment of the Jewish settlements in the vicinities of areas A and B. The redeployment must create a territorial continuity of liberated Palestinian areas that will be empty of IDF and Jewish settlers. b. The Palestinian Authorities will declare a comprehensive cease-fire. c. The international forces will be deployed aiming to separate between the IDF and the Palestinian civilian population, thus protecting them and preventing further hostilities and futile bloodshed. d. An international Conference will be convened by the UN in order to discuss the implementation of the relevant UN resolutions, including the withdrawal of the Israeli forces to the 4th of June 1967 borders, the management of the Holly places, the just solution of the refugees question and the establishment of a fully independent Palestinian State with it's capital in East Jerusalem.

We urge you to intervene immediately; every hour more and more innocent people are dying!

Signatures:

Among them Uri Avnery, Dr. Lev Grinberg, Adam Keller, Prof. Adi Ofir, Prof. Baruch Kimmerling, Dr. Anat Biletzky, Dr. Anat Matar, Avi Mograbi, Prof. Charles Greenbaum, Prof. Dan Amit, Prof. Daniel Boyarin, Dr. Danny Rabinowitz, David Reeb, David Shacham, Gabi Lasky, Prof. Eyal ben Ari, Haim Baram, Prof. David Gordon, Prof. Hanan Hever, KM Issam Makhoul, Prof. Majid el Haj, Dr. Nimrod Aloni, Dr. Ron Kuzar, Dr. Sami Shalom Chetrit, Prof. Nomi Shir, Olek Netzer, Prof. Oren Yiftachel, Prof, Orly Lubin, Shosh Avigal, Prof. Sidra de Koven Ezrachi, Simone Bitton, Tami Berger, Dr. Thabet Abu-Ras, Udi Aloni. Prof. Vered Krauss, Yehudit Harel, Prof. Yinon Cohen.

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