Riteniamo utile pubblicare il seguente appello di esponenti politici e della società civile palestinese, sia di area laica che islamica, per la formazione di un governo di unità nazionale palestinese.

Ramallah – Ma’an – A number of Palestinian leaders on Tuesday signed a letter in Ramallah demanding reconciliation between competing factions.

The text of the letter, as well as its signatories, is as follows:

Appeal for Unity
January 26, 2009

The Palestinian people today are faced with dangerous conditions.

There is a deterioration in conditions following the recent barbaric aggression on Gaza Strip, which has local, Arab, regional and international ramifications, along with the positions and measures that endanger the safety and unity of the Palestinian territories and other measures that jeopardize the representation and independence of the Palestinian people’s decision, and work underway to prepare the grounds for passing schemes that Israel has aimed to impose on our people through increasing colonialism schemes, denying the Palestinian people their rights and through steps aimed to realize the Zionist dream.

In face of this dangerous picture, there is a need to adopt a clear position based on the pillars of the higher national interests that should rise high above all other individual, tribal and partisan interests.

The Palestinian higher national interest must remain an area of national consensus that can constitute a basis for agreement on common national denominators that allow for achieving national unity and that can enable the Palestinian people to achieve their national goals.

The undersigned call on the Palestinian people to support the appeal for unity in all its components and principles and to struggle to realize it through practical steps.

The principles and components of the appeal for unity are as follows:

First: General principles of the appeal for unity

1- The Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, the dispersion of the Palestinian people, the attempts to conceal their identity and to deny their national rights that include right of return and to exercise the right of self-determination, including the right of establishing their independent Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital, on all Palestinian territories which were occupied in 1967, is the basis of the conflict; therefore, the struggle toward ending the occupation and recognizing Palestinian rights is the compass that must lead the path and work of the national forces.

2- The West Bank, including Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip is one geographic entity that is under Israeli occupation and the occupation does not end unless it ends on all parts of this entity.

3- The aggression on the Palestinian people in Gaza Strip is an aggression on the entire Palestinian people and it aims to break the will of the Palestinian people and force them to coexist with the occupation, split and surrender in front of the schemes that aim to eliminate the Palestinian national cause. Moreover, this aggression is part of the aggression that was launched by the Israeli occupation troops on the West Bank in 2002 and this requires a Palestinian policy that can meet the requirements to frustrate the goals of this aggression.

4- The political and geographic split is catastrophic to the Palestinian cause; therefore, there is a need to grant priority toward ending the split through dialogue, which must be lead quickly to a national consensus based on the pillars of the higher national interest that must rise above all partisan interests.

5- The basic pillar of national action must include maintaining the democratic principles of the political system, including peaceful transfer of authority and pluralism in all its form and preserving and respecting individual rights and freedoms and human rights, and securing the rule of law, in addition to the adoption of regular and periodic elections. The pillars of the higher national interests that unite Palestinians wherever they are forces everyone to respect the unity of the cause and people and to preserve the freedom of belief and freedom of expression and the right to protest and demonstrate; this also entails the complete and immediate halt of all forms of political oppression and arrest and the need to release all political detainees and ending torture and acts of killing and ending incitement campaigns and refraining from issuing decisions or decrees that can lead to further split and division.

Second: Components of the appeal for unity

1- The appeal for unity is based on the importance of having a Palestinian role that can exert pressure to end the split and achieve unity. The appeal for unity is based on the Cairo Declaration and the National Reconciliation Document; it complements all other Palestinian, Arab and international efforts and initiatives, including the Egyptian paper, and the Yemenite Initiative that enjoyed consensus at the Arab Summit in Damascus.

2- Immediate and unconditional start of comprehensive national dialogue with the participation of all national factions, parties and figures and serious action to achieve national reconciliation that includes the basic issues in a manner that reflects the interests and aspirations of the Palestinian people within the framework of their national constants through democratic means and this must come in one package with all clauses to be implemented in parallel within an agreed upon timetable.

3- The formation of an agreed upon Palestinian national government that abides by a program that reflects the Palestinian national rights and that adheres to international law and the UN resolutions away from the unfair conditions of the Quartet Committee in dealing with this government, and this government has to be strong and capable of unifying the two sectors of the homeland in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and that can prepare for organizing legislative and presidential elections and that can stop security coordination and reform the security services so that they become professional services that serve the homeland and the citizen and enforce the rule of the law away from partisan interests.

4- To struggle toward ending the siege and opening all crossings and establishing a permanent, free and safe passage between the West Bank and Gaza Strip and take all Palestinian necessary measures to facilitate relief and reconstruction of Gaza Strip as soon as possible, and move away from all matters that can further deepen the split between the West Bank and Gaza Strip or make it a total separation.

5- To stress the right of the Palestinian people in resisting the occupation, using all legitimate means and to consider this as a legitimate right and duty to be exercised within the context of national reconciliation and in accordance with international law and in a manner that serves the national cause and the goal of independence.

6- To stop bilateral negotiations that have moved on the basis of Annapolis track and the roadmap and to find a new approach to the negotiations that can guarantee the halt of settlement activities and that can end the aggression and siege; the new approach needs to be based on the international law and the UN resolutions with aim to implement the UN resolutions and not hold negotiations over them and to achieve our legitimate national rights.

7- The unity of the Palestinian representation and the independence of their decision must be protected by all the Palestinians in honor and loyalty to the struggle and sacrifices of our people; this also necessitates work to reform, reactivate and reformulate the PLO so that it includes, encompasses and reflects the interests and aspirations of all sectors of the Palestinian people, away from factional quotas, and on the basis of national partnership and the national program. This also entails holding Palestinian National Council elections, along with elections at the popular and trade union levels on the basis of full proportional representation in accordance with the National Reconciliation Document, wherever possible, inside the homeland and all over the Palestinian Diaspora, in order to form a new National Council that reflect the aspirations of all sectors, parties and wings of the Palestinian people.

8- To set the Palestinian National Authority within its natural status as an interim arrangement towards establishing the independent Palestinian state with full sovereignty and with al-Quds as its capital. The PNA needs to be subject to the national program and to its reference which is the PLO, the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people which leads the struggle towards return and towards exercising the right of self-determination, freedom, sovereignty and independence.

9- The Palestinian leadership needs to delegate a Palestinian commission consisting of legal experts to follow up the issue of filing court cases, especially in the countries where their legal systems allow it and to exert pressure and lobbying efforts to see the UN conduct an international investigation and hold the leaders and Generals of Israel accountable for what they committed in terms of war crimes and render compensation to the Palestinian people.

Signatories:

1- Ibrahim Barham
2- Ismail al-Zabri
3- Sheikh Taysir Tammimi
4- Sheikh Mohammed Jamal Abu Sneineh
5- Amal Khreisheh
6- Eyad al-Sarraj
7- Basem Sobhi Khoury Nasr
8- Bassam al-Salhi
9- Hazem al-Qawasmi
10- Hamed Tammimi
11- Hanan Ashrawi
12- Rami Mehdawi
13- Rima Hani Arafat
14- Zuheir al-Dab’i
15- Sama Aweidah
16- Saeed Kan’an
17- Samir Hleileh
18- Samir Abdullah Abu Eisheh
19- Abdul Rahim Mallouh
20- Abdul Majid Sweilem
21- Azzam al-Shawwa
22- Ghassan al-Khatib
23- Fouad al-Sureidi
24- Faiha’ Abdul Hadi
25- Qaddura Fares
26- Qays Abdul Karim
27- Majedah al-Masri
28- Mohammed Saqf al-Heit
29- Mahmoud Misleh
30- Mamdouh al-Aker
31- Munib Rashid Al-Masri
32- Nasser Eddin al-Shaer
33- Naser al-Qidweh
34- Nabil Qassis
35- Haniah al-Bitar
36- Hisham Abu Ghosh
37- Wafa Abdul Rahman
38- Waleed al-Ahmad
39- Yahia al-Sarraj
40- Kamaleen SAT
41- Abdul Kareem Ashour
42- Taysir Muhsin
43- Omar Sha’ban
44- Maha al-Farra
45- Majdi Shaqoura
46- Issam Younes
47- Muhsin Abu Ramadan
48- Sakher Bseiso
49- Azmi Shue’ibi
50- Mahdi Abdul Hadi