July 6, 2006 

H. E. Kofi Annan
Secretary-General
The United Nations,  First Avenue
New York, NY 10017

Honorable members of the United Nations Security Council 

RE: Immediate International Protection for the Palestinian People in the Occupied Territory

The United Nations was founded "to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace . . . ."  The ongoing ethnic cleansing in Palestine has thrown into stark relief the need for the United Nations to live up to this duty.

Since the Palestinian people have time and again signaled their refusal to acquiesce in their own subjugation, the inexorable march of Israeli human rights violations continues with renewed savagery.  The Israeli military has escalated its assault upon the Palestinian people, with dozens of Palestinians killed and wounded in recent months. Since the so-called Israeli redeployment from Gaza, Israel has continued to attack unarmed Palestinian civilians.  On June 9, seven people of the same family were killed by Israeli shelling on a beach in the Gaza Strip.  Dozens of Palestinian children have been killed in the first six months of 2006 alone, with the world community looking on. As of June 27, the Israeli Occupation Forces have launched a large scale attack on Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, punishing over one million Palestinian civilians for the legitimate exercise of the inherent right of self-defense against Israeli combatants conducting a wide-scale assault on heavily populated areas.

 Meanwhile, these forces continue illegally to arrest and detain thousands of Palestinians, confiscate Palestinian land, demolish homes, impose a deadly economic blockade, and build an annexationist Apartheid wall.  The historic policy of "Hafrada" (the Hebrew word for Apartheid) has reached its apex, and the international community is confronted more vividly than ever with the fruit of its inaction.  It is thus time for the United Nations to discharge its historic obligation.

We therefore call upon the United Nations to intervene to defend the Palestinian people by immediately undertaking the following actions:

·    forming an international force to protect Palestinian lives against violent attacks by the Israeli military;

·    calling for the immediate release of Palestinian prisoners held in violation of international law;  

·   holding Israel accountable for its war crimes against the Palestinian people, its violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Right and the Convention Against Torture, and its blatant disregard for the principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  

Such actions would form the necessary beginnings of a just policy on Palestine that is long overdue. The Palestinian people are under brutal assault, and the moral failure of the international community cries out for rectification.

Respectfully, 

1. Palestine Bar Association –Palestine
2. Gaza Community Mental Health –Palestine
3. University Teachers' Association –Palestine
4. Addameer Prisoners' Rights and Support Group –Palestine
5. Teacher Creativity Center –Palestine
6. Palestinian Counseling Center – Palestine
7. Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC) –Palestine
8. Arab Cultural Forum/Gaza –Palestine
9. Society of Christian Heritage in the Holy Land –Palestine
10. Women's Affairs Technical Committee –Palestine
11. Jerusalem Center for Educational Enrichment (JCEE) –Palestine
12. Filastiniyat –Palestine
13. Union of Palestinian Women's Committees (UPWC) –Palestine
14. Network of Christian Organizations in Bethlehem (NCOB) –Palestine
15. Baladna, Association for Arab Youth Association –Palestine
16. Ittijah, Union of Arab Community Based Associations –Palestine
17. The Arab Association for Human Rights (HRA/Nazareth) – Palestine   
18. Himaya Association for the protection of Lands Rights – Palestine
19. Ansar Al-Sajeen Association – Palestine
20. The Committee for the Defence of the Rights of Internally Displaced Palestinians in Israel –Palestine
21. Friends of Political Prisoners and Detainees – Palestine
22. Jeel Jadeed Cultural Association – Palestine
23. The Culture and Volunteer Association, Umm el-Fahm –Palestine
24. The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) –Palestine
25. The Nahif Development and Welfare Association –Palestine
26. Council for National Interest –USA
27. Center on Law and Human Rights in Colorado Springs –USA
28. Palestine Aid Society of North America –USA
29. Workers World Party -San Francisco Branch –USA
30. Ohio State University's Committee for Justice in Palestine –USA
31. Palestinian American Congress –USA
32. Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center/ Colorado – USA
33. Georgetown Students for Justice in Palestine –USA
34. Women's International League for Peace and Freedom/ Washington, D.C. , Branch –USA
35. Indigenous Peoples Literature –USA
36. New York Campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions –USA
37. International Solidarity Movement, New York Chapter –USA
38. National Council of Arab Americans, New York Chapter –USA
39. American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, New York Chapter –USA
40. Troops Out Now Coalition –USA
41. International Action Center –USA
42. Arab Muslim American Federation –USA 
43. The Middle East Children's Alliance – USA
44. Arab American Club/ San Diego, California –USA
45. American Council on Middle East Policy –USA
46. Deir Yassin Society –USA
47. Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition/NYC –USA
48. International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal –USA
49. Women in Black/ Los Angeles –USA
50. WESPAC Foundation –USA
51. International Solidarity Movement/ Seattle –USA
52. International Solidarity Movement/ Chicago –USA
53. Arab Jewish Peace Alliance –USA
54. Olympia-Rafah Sister City Project –USA
55. Jewish Women's Committee to End the Occupation of Palestine/ Toronto –Canada 
56. International Women's Peace Service/Palestine –Canada  
57. Coalition for a Just Peace in Israel/Palestine –Canada
58. The Right of Return Congress –Europe/UK
59. Oxford Palestine Solidarity Campaign –UK  
60. Architects & Planners for Justice in Palestine –UK
61. Welfare Association/ Great Britain –UK
62. Oxford Women In Black –UK
63. Collectif Judéo-arabe et citoyen pour la Paix/ Strasbourg –France
64. Coordination de L'appel de Strasbourg pour une Paix Juste au Proche Orient –France
65. Collectif Guantanamo –France
66. Paz con Dignidad –Spain
67. Aktionsbündnis für einen gerechten Frieden für Palästina –Germany
68. Comite pour une Paix Juste au Proche-Orient –Luxembourg
69. Belgian Interuniversity Cooperation with Universities in Palestine –Belgium 
70. Comité de Soutien au Peuple Palestinien d'Ottignies-Louvain-La-Neuve – Belgium
71. Verein fuer Antirassistische und Friedenspolitische Initiative/Dar al Janub" (Union for Antiracism and Peace Policy/Dar al Janub) –Austria