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National Campaign to Defend Public Freedoms and Human Rights and to Promote the Restoration of National Unity in Palestine
A national meeting via video-conference was held between the Gaza Strip and West bank on 14 September 2009 to launch the national Campaign to Defend Public Freedoms and Human Rights and to Promote the Restoration of National Unity in Palestine. Over 150 representatives of political parties, Palestinian civil society, parliamentary blocs, political figures, and social movements from the Gaza Strip and West Bank attended this meeting.
These representatives are aware of the violations and assaults upon personal and human rights and freedoms of the people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. These violations have a crucial impact on the social cohesion and the future of Palestinian nation''''''''s struggle for freedom. The factional split and the inter-Palestinian conflict have as well affected negatively the democratic choice that the Palestinian people adopted as the basis of their governance.
For all the above mentioned reasons, this campaign was launched in order to defend freedoms and human rights in Palestine, and to put an end to the political splits.
And to reach these objectives, the committee, which initiated this campaign, has committed itself to follow up with it, regarding the specificity of each situation. It will work on the future perspectives of this campaign through the establishment of three sub-committees.
These sub-committees will identify and list the violations, confronting the breaches on the Palestinian Basic Law made by the authorities, they will work to enforce the mechanisms of advocacy and lobbying for the respect of law in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and they will enforce the principle of human rights away from partisan policies and work to protect the Palestinian society from confiscation of rights.
These three sub-committees, which are Advocacy and Lobbying, Media and Public Awareness, will set a periodical action plan for the next 3 months, based on the challenges faced by the Palestinian society.
The launching of the campaign was very successful as the attendees approved the necessity of this campaign and signed the appeal and the statement of the campaign, both in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
Mission Statement Issued by the National Campaign to Defend Public Freedoms and Human Rights and to Promote the Restoration of National Unity in Palestine
We believe in our national, ethical, and legal responsibility to challenge any action that would harm our unity, the fate of our cause, and the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. We are aware of the violation of and assault upon personal and human rights and freedoms of the people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. We are aware of the impact of these violations on social cohesion and the future of our nation''''''''s struggle for freedom. We are aware, as well, of the factional split and the inter-Palestinian conflict, which has negatively affected the democratic choice that we adopted as the basis of Palestinian governance.
Based on our commitment to defend the achievements, struggles, and sacrifices of successive generations of our people, and affirming our legitimate right to self-determination and resistance to occupation and its removal, we, representatives of Palestinian political parties, Palestinian civil society, parliamentary blocs, political figures, and social movements are all in agreement about the need to take action and effectively halt the decline of the national and democratic choice. This would serve to solidify the values and principles of democracy and the rule of law in our society which, if allowed to continue to decline, would endanger not only the rights and freedoms of our people, but rather the whole future of the Palestinian people and their cause.
The internal Palestinian conflict has perpetuated this decline in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The killings and executions, torture, assaults on personal freedoms, political arrests, the stripping of the freedom of opinion, expression and movement all represent a grave breach of Palestinian law and international human rights. We have held meetings among political and civil society figures as well as social movements, to discuss ways to stop this decline -- which only serves the Israeli occupier and its colonialist policies based on the annexation and occupation of Palestinian territories. The Occupier has realized that the weakness caused by the political and factional splits between the Palestinians, presents a historic opportunity to create and implement Israeli discriminatory policies in silence.
We express our rejection of the situation that has been reached in the occupied Palestinian territories, and reject the current political internal division. We have decided to launch a National Campaign to Defend Public Freedoms and Human Rights and to promote the Restoration of National Unity in Palestine. Conditional to this unity is the reinstatement of rights and public freedoms, an independent Palestinian judiciary, and the protection of human rights. We must avoid contributing to political divisions, and instead uphold the freedoms and rights of all Palestinians without discrimination and without partisan politics.
On 14/9/2009, the date for the launch of this campaign, we will declare our determination and commitment to continue to adhere to those principles and demands. We will continue our campaign to preserve the dignity and rights of the Palestinians according to freedoms that are guaranteed to the people by the Palestinian Basic Law.