OFFICIAL STATEMENT OF THE SOLIDARY NETWORK AGAINST THE OCCUPATION OF PALESTINE ANNOUNCING ITS WITHDRAWAL FROM THE FORUM FOR A JUST PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST

15/12/2007
Solidarity Network Against the Occupation of Palestine

www.causapalestina.org

The Solidarity Network Against the Occupation of Palestine, which gathered in Alcorcón, Madrid, 14 December 2007 and in Leganés, Madrid, 15 December 2007, to participate in the Forum for a Just Peace in the Middle East, has decided to withdraw from the Forum and to suspend all the activities it had organized for the following reasons: 
 
Since the beginning of the Forum, our Network voiced its concern over the lack of transparency and the way in which the Forum was developing. The Network considers that governments are obliged to respect and comply with international law and work towards a just peace for the Arab world, the end of all foreign occupation and colonial wars, instead of the manipulation of Forums proposed and developed by civil society.
  
Despite the opacity in the development of the Forum, the urgent need to advance towards a just peace led us to embrace the call of  Palestinian organizations who asked us to participate in the Forum. Despite the Forum´s refusal that the Solidarity Network be part of the Permanent Committee, charged with organizing and administering the Forum, the Network continued working, and promoting the event, and organized three workshops.  
 
Subsequent events have made it clear that the final objectives to which the Forum’s organisation has adhered to no longer correspond to the initial objectives and expectations  that inspired it in the first place and that were directed at achieving a just peace for the Middle East.
Proof of this has been the inability to react to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has promoted the participation of Zionist delegations that were not included in the initial programme and that do not subscribe to the principles contained in the Reference Document of the Forum, thus leading to its cancellation.
 
The Network considers that the only solution to perpetual conflict and occupation in the Arab world rests in the application of International Law, Human Rights and United Nations resolutions.  
 
We therefore require the international community, and concretely the Spanish government, to urgently adopt the following measures, aimed at restoring stable sociopolitical and economic conditions for the Palestinian people and ensuring Israel comply with International Law: 
 
1. The suspension of the European Union-Israel association agreement.
2. A total halt to all trade and military exchanges with Israel. 
3. The suspension of EU member states and the World Bank funding used by Israel in the construction of infrastructure necessary to the completion of the Apartheid Wall.
4. The end of the Israeli siege on Gaza, which counts with the support of its inconditional ally, the US, and the EU’s permissivity. The end to the economic sanctions imposed on the Palestinian people, and the recognition of the democratically elected and legal government in Palestine.
 
In these demands we express our solidarity with the principled decision taken by the Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese delegations, as well as other international representatives, to not attend the Forum and participate in the normalization of the racist and colonial regime of Israel.