Open Letter

Palestinians overwhelmingly condemn German Parliament’s anti-Palestinian resolution

Palestinian civil society coalitions, human rights organizations, labor unions, and representatives of the Palestinian people, condemn in the strongest terms the German Parliament's resolution which is based on outright lies and equates the nonviolent BDS movement for Palestinian rights with anti-semitism.

We, the undersigned Palestinian civil society coalitions, human rights organizations, labor unions, and representatives of the Palestinian people, condemn in the strongest terms the German parliament’s resolution, which is based on outright lies and equates the nonviolent BDS movement for Palestinian rights with anti-semitism.

We note that the resolution was issued on the 71st anniversary of the Nakba, catastrophe in Arabic, the deliberate and systematic ethnic cleansing of Palestine and the displacement of over 750,000 indigenous Palestinians by Zionist militias and, later, the state of Israel.

BDS calls for peaceful pressure on Israel’s regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid -- as well as against corporations and institutions that are complicit in its human rights violations -- until it fully complies with its obligations under international law. Specifically, BDS calls for ending Israel’s 1967 occupation and its system of racial discrimination against its Palestinian citizens, as well as for recognizing the UN-stipulated right of return for Palestinian refugees.

The global BDS movement, led by the largest coalition in Palestinian civil society, is anchored in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It rejects all forms of racism and discrimination, including Islamophobia, anti-semitism, sexism, anti-Black racism and homophobia, and is inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement and the US civil rights movement. BDS targets complicity, not identity.

More than forty progressive Jewish organizations from around the world have condemned the fraudulent conflation between hostility to or prejudice against Jews on the one hand and legitimate critiques of Israeli policies and system of injustice on the other. “This conflation,” they explained, “undermines both the Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice and equality and the global struggle against antisemitism. It also serves to shield Israel from being held accountable to universal standards of human rights and international law.”

Palestinian civil society, mass organizations, and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, are united in expressing outrage at and condemnation of this Bundestag resolution. We affirm our full support for the BDS movement for Palestinian rights and demand that Israel be held accountable to international law, like all other states committing similar crimes.

We reject the baseless allegations and fabrications of the Bundestag against the BDS movement that aims to delegitimize Palestinian non-violent resistance of Israel’s occupation and apartheid. Denying Palestinians the right to non-violently advocate for freedom, justice and equality is anti-Palestinian and puts the Bundestag at odds with international law, with universal democratic principles and even with the formal position of the European Union, which in 2016 recognized the right to pursue BDS to achieve Palestinian rights as protected by European human rights conventions.

With this shameful resolution, the Bundestag is undermining the right to freedom of expression, a characteristic of undemocratic and authoritarian regimes, including Israel’s far-right government.

We remind German political parties and the Bundestag that, aside from the European Union, the governments of the Netherlands, Ireland and Sweden and the parliament of Spain and the Upper House of the Swiss parliament have all affirmed that participation and support of peaceful BDS campaigns is a right of citizens that is protected under the right to freedom of expression.

We call on the Bundestag to immediately repeal this anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab resolution and to respect the right to BDS. We also call on Germany to end all forms of complicity in Israel’s illegal occupation and apartheid by banning Israel’s illegal settlement products and services, ending all military trade and military research with Israel and supporting the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement until Israel respects the agreement’s human rights clauses. Only then can Germany truly advance the cause of justice, peace, equality and dignity for all.
 

  • Council of National and Islamic Forces in Palestine
  • Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council
  • General Union of Palestinian Workers
  • Union of Students University Councils
  • Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO)
  • Palestinian National Institute for NGOs
  • Federation of Independent Trade Unions
  • Global Palestine Right of Return Coalition
  • Occupied Palestine and Syrian Golan Heights Initiative
  • Grassroots Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign (STW)
  • Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI)
  • Popular Struggle Coordination Committee (PSCC)
  • Coalition for Jerusalem
  • Women Campaign to Boycott Israeli Products
  • General Union of Palestinian NGO’s
  • Palestinian Bar Association
  • Salfeet NGO’s General Union
  • Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center
  • Prisoners and Human rights Association (Addameer)
  • Maan Development Center
  • Land Research Center
  • Palestinian Youth Union
  • Democracy and Workers Right Center (DWRC)
  • Fateh Youth Movement
  • Palestine Seeds Association for Development and Culture Student Council
  • Annajah National University Student Council
  • Birzeit University Student Council
  • Arab American University Student Council
  • Hebron University Student Council
  • Bethlehem University Student Council
  • Khadory University Students Council
  • Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights (Hurryat)
  • Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC)
  • Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC)
  • Edward Said National Conservatory of Music
  • Defense for Children International (DCI)
  • Arab Agriculture Engineers Association
  • Arab Center for Agriculture Development (ACAD)
  • The Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs (PASSIA)
  • Land Research Center
  • The National Society of Rehabilitation
  • Cultural and Arts Society
  • Bisan for Research and Development
  • Sarayya Center
  • Tamer Institute for Community Education
  • Palestinian Working Women Society for Development (PWWSD)

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