ARIJ Statement On The 58th Anniversary of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

December 1, 2006

As the world commemorate this month the 58th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the world appear to be as far from the essence of the declaration than any time ever before; in some places worse than others. Every year more and more parts of the world are calling and demanding that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights be honored and effective; particularly in the Middle East region; Iraq and Palestine in specific. For this time, ARIJ calls upon the government of Israel to abide by the articles of the declaration and END its prolonged daily attacks and assaults on the Palestinian people and the immediate release of all political prisoners and to stop all the attacks on the Palestinian institutions and residents and to abandon its policy of land confiscation and razing particularly against the agricultural land, which is the only source of livelihood to many of the Palestinian farmers. ARIJ calls upon Israel to relinquish its intolerant policy that resulted in the mass murder of thousands of Palestinian civilians, entire families at times. ARIJ also calls upon Israel to conform to the International Humanitarian Law and all International Regulations to respect the Palestinian Humanitarian and Basic Rights to live freely with dignity and to practice their religious freedom, freedom of movement, their right to live anywhere, all of which granted and sanctioned under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

ARIJ calls upon Israel to:

Stop and dismantle the Segregation Wall being built illegally in the West Bank.
Respect and concede the ICJ ruling of July 9, 2004.
Release all Palestinian political prisoners from Israeli jails; particularly minors and women.
Stop all forms of torture and humiliation against Palestinian prisoners.
Release all members of Palestinian parliament taken in custody.
Remove all kinds of obstacles and barriers (518+) put in the occupied territory to restrict Palestinian movement, which consequently affected the education, health, economic and social segments of the Palestinian society.
Remove all checkpoints surrounding Occupied East Jerusalem and isolating it from the rest of the West Bank to allow freedom of access to the city’s Holy Sites for both Christians and Muslims to practice religious freedom.
Stop all forms of manipulation to alter the geographic and demographic status of Occupied East Jerusalem in favor of the Israelis.

ARIJ calls upon the International Community to:

To stop its support to the Israeli government and to boycott its extremists members
To stop its support to the aggressive assaults carried out by the Israeli government against the civilian population in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.
To press the government of Israel to conform to the UN resolution and the ICJ ruling.
To lift the international siege on the freely elected Palestinian government for the negative consequences it has on the Palestinian people.
To persecute those in the Israeli Army who authorized the use of illegal weapons against civilians in Gaza and Lebanon.