Declaration on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid in Historic Palestine

Declaration on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid in Historic Palestine

Whereas:

1- Israel has subjected the Palestinian people for 73 years to an ongoing catastrophe, known as the Nakba, a process that included massive displacement, ethnic cleansing, war crimes, and crimes against humanity;

2- Israel has established an apartheid regime on the entire territory of historic Palestine and directed toward the whole of the deliberately fragmented Palestinian people; Israel itself no longer seeks to hide its apartheid character, claiming Jewish supremacy and exclusive Jewish rights of self-determination in all of historic Palestine through the adoption in 2018 by the Knesset of a new Basic Law;

3-The apartheid character of Israel has been confirmed and exhaustively documented by widely respected human rights organizations, Adalah, B’Tselem, Human Rights Watch, and in the UN ESCWA academic study that stresses the importance of defining Israeli apartheid as extending to people rather than limited to space, [“Israeli Practices towards the Palestinian People and the Question of Apartheid,” UN ESCWA, 2017];

4- Israel periodically unleashes massive violence with devastating impacts on Palestinian civilian society, particularly against the population of Gaza, which endures widespread devastation, collective trauma, and many deaths and casualties, aggravated by being kept under an inhuman and unlawful blockade for over 14 years, and throughout the humanitarian emergency brought about by the COVID pandemic;

5- Western powers have facilitated and even subsidized for more than seven decades this Israeli system of colonization, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid, and continue to do so diplomatically, economically, and even militarily.

Considering:

i- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights which stipulates in its first article that ‘all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.’ And taking account that the inalienable right of self-determination is common Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Political Rights, and as such, a legal and ethical entitlement of all peoples.

ii- The International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid which stipulates in Article I that ‘apartheid is a crime against humanity and that inhuman acts resulting from the policies and practices of apartheid and similar policies and practices of racial segregation and discrimination, as defined in article II of the Convention, are crimes violating the principles of international law, in particular the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, and constituting a serious threat to international peace and security.’ The States Parties to this Convention undertake in accordance with Article IV:

    “(a) To adopt any legislative or other measures necessary to suppress as well as to prevent any encouragement of the crime of apartheid and similar segregationist policies or their manifestations and to punish persons guilty of that crime;

    “(b) To adopt legislative, judicial and administrative measures to prosecute, bring to trial and punish in accordance with their jurisdiction persons responsible for, or accused of, the acts defined in article II of the present Convention, whether or not such persons reside in the territory of the State in which the acts are committed or are nationals of that State or of some other State or are stateless persons.”

The endorsers of this document:

A- Declare their categorical rejection of the apartheid regime set up on the territory of historic Palestine and imposed on the Palestinian people as a whole, including refugees and exiles wherever they might be in the world.

B- Call for the immediate dismantling of this apartheid regime and the establishment of a democratic constitutional arrangement that grants and implements on all the inhabitants of this land equal rights and duties, regardless of their racial, ethnic, and religious identities, or gender preferences, and which respects and enforces international law and human conventions, and in particular gives priority to the long deferred right of return of Palestinian refugees expelled from their towns and villages during the creation of the State of Israel, and subsequently.

C- Urge their governments to cease immediately their complicity with Israel’s apartheid regime, to join in the effort to call for the dismantling of apartheid structures and their replacement by an egalitarian democratic governance that treats everyone subject to its authority in accordance with their rights and with full respect for their humanity, and to make this transition in a manner sensitive to the right of self-determination enjoyed by both peoples presently inhabiting historic Palestine.

D- Call for the establishment of a National Commission of Peace, Reconciliation, and Accountability to accompany the transition from apartheid Israel to a governing process sensitive to human rights and democratic principles and practices. In the interim, until such a process is underway, issue a call for the International Criminal Court to launch a formal investigation of Israeli political leaders and security personnel guilty of perpetuating the crime of apartheid.

* Endorsed by 1,111 academics, artists and intellectuals on September 4, 2021 (click here for the full list), including

1. Ahmed Abbes, mathematician, Director of research in Paris, France
2. Sinan Antoon, New York University, United States
3. John Avery, Writer, Denmark
4. Bertrand Badie, Sciences Po Paris, France
5. Étienne Balibar, Anniversary Chair of Modern European Philosophy, Kingston University London, United Kingdom
6. Anthony Barnett, Writer, United Kingdom
7. Edmond Baudoin, Auteur de bandes dessinées, France
8. Jacob Berger, Filmmaker, Switzerland
9. George Bisharat, UC Hastings College of the Law/Professor, musician, United States
10. Nicolas Boeglin, Professor of Public International Law, University of Costa Rica, Costa Rica
11. Hagit Borer, Professor, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom
12. Grazia Borrini-Feyerabend, Council of Elders of the ICCA Consortium, Switzerland
13. Bruno Boussagol, Metteur en scène, France
14. Daniel Boyarin, Taubman Professor of Talmudic Culture, UC Berkeley, United States
15. Anouar Brahem, Musician, Composer, Tunisia
16. Rony Brauman, Physician, writer, former president of Médecins Sans Frontières, France
17. Victoria Brittain, Writer and journalist, United Kingdom
18. Iain Chalmers, Editor, James Lind Library, United Kingdom
19. Hafidha Chekir, Emeritus Professor of Public Law, Al Manar University, Tunis; Vice President of the International Federation for Human Rights, Tunisia
20. Monique Chemillier-Gendreau, Professeure émérite de droit public et de sciences politiques, Université Paris-Diderot, France
21. David Comedi, National University of Tucumán and National Research Council, Argentina
22. Jean-Paul Cruse, Écrivain indépendant, France
23. Laurent Cugny, Professeur, Sorbonne Université, France
24. Eric David, Emeritus Professor of International Law at the Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
25. Chandler Davis, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, University of Toronto, Canada
26. Sonia Dayan-Herzbrun, Professeure émérite à l’Université de Paris, France
27. Herman De Ley, Emeritus Professor, Ghent University, Belgium
28. Raymond Deane, Composer, author, Ireland
29. John Dugard, University of Leiden, Netherlands
30. Ivar Ekeland, Professor emeritus of mathematics and former President, University of Paris-Dauphine, France
31. Brian Eno, Artist/Composer, United Kingdom
32. Adolfo Esquivel, Premio Nobel de la Paz 1980 (Nobel Peace Prize 1980), Argentina
33. Richard Falk, Professor of International Law, Emeritus, Princeton University, United States
34. Emmanuel Farjoun, Emeritus Professor, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
35. Jan Fermon, Avocat. Secrétaire général Association Internationale des Juristes Démocrates, Belgium
36. Pierre Galand, Ancien professeur des Universités à l’U.L.B., Belgique
37. Domenico Gallo, Chamber President in Supreme Court of Cassazione, Italy
38. Irene Gendzier, Prof Emeritus in the Dept Political Science, Boston University, United States
39. Catherine Goldstein, Director of Research, Paris, France
40. Neve Gordon, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom
41. Penny Green, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom
42. Nacira Guénif, Université Paris 8 Vincennes – Saint-Denis, France
43. Sondra Hale, Professor Emerita, University of California, Los Angeles, United States
44. Michael Harris, Professor of Mathematics, Columbia University, United States
45. Marc Hedrich, Cour d’appel de Caen, France
46. Fredrik S. Heffermehl, Writer, Norway
47. Judith Herrin, King’s College London, United Kingdom
48. Christiane Hessel-Chabry, Présidente d’honneur de l’association EJE (Gaza), France
49. Shir Hever, Political Economist, Germany
50. Nicholas Humphrey, Emeritus Professor, London School of Economics, United Kingdom
51. Abdeen Jabara, Attorney, past president, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, United States
52. Richard Jolly, Emeritus Fellow, IDS, University of Sussex, United Kingdom
53. Suad Joseph, Distinguished Research Professor, University of California, Davis, United States
54. Mary Kaldor, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom
55. Ronnie Kasrils, Former government minister, South Africa
56. Assaf Kfoury, Computer Science Department, Boston University, United States
57. Rima Khalaf, Former Executive Secretary of UN ESCWA, Jordan
58. Daniel Kupferstein, Film director, France
59. Patrick Le Hyaric, Président du groupe L’Humanité. Député européen 2004 -2014, France
60. Ronit Lentin, Trinity College Dublin Ireland (retired associate professor), Ireland
61. Jean-Marc Lévy-Leblond, Emeritus professor, University of Nice, France
62. David Lloyd, University of California Riverside, United States
63. Brinton Lykes, Professor & Co-Director, Boston College Center for Human Rights & International Justice, United States
64. Moshé Machover, Mathematician, KCL, United Kingdom
65. Kate Macintosh, Architect, United Kingdom
66. André Magnan, Professeur émérite, Université Paris X-Nanterre, spécialiste de la littérature des Lumières, président d’honneur de la Société Voltaire, France
67. Mairead Maguire, Nobel peace laureate, Ireland
68. Mohamed Fadhel Mahfoudh, President of the National Order of Lawyers of Tunisia from 2013 to 2016 and as such received the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize, Tunisia
69. Camille Mansour, Professor of International Relations (Retired), Université Paris I, France
70. Dick Marty, Dr. Jur. Dr. H.c., former Chair of the Committee of Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Switzerland
71. Gustave Massiah, Ancien enseignant à l’école d’architecture de paris la villette, France
72. Georg Meggle, Philosopher, Prof. em. at University of Leipzig, Germany
73. Georges Menahem, Director of research in Economics and Sociology, CNRS, MSH Paris-Nord, France
74. Luisa Morgantini, Former Vice President European Parliament, Italy
75. Edgar Morin, Directeur de recherches émérite au CNRS, France
76. Chantal Mouffe, Professor emeritus University of Westminster, London, United Kingdom
77. Véronique Nahoum-Grappe, Anthropologue, France
78. Safa Nasser, Academician, Palestine
79. Jan Oberg, DrHc, peace and future researcher, Transnational Foundation, Sweden
80. Joseph Oesterlé, Emeritus professor, Sorbonne University, France
81. Adi Ophir, Professor Emeritus, Tel Aviv University; Visiting Professor, The Cogut Institute for the Humanities and the center for Middle East Studies, Brown Universities, United States
82. Norman Paech, Professor emeritus University of Hamburg, Germany
83. Karine Parrot, Professeure de droit à l’Université de Cergy-Pontoise, France
84. Nurit Peled-Elhanan, Hebrew University, Israel
85. John Pilger, journalist, film-maker, author, United Kingdom
86. Ghislain Poissonnier, Magistrate, France
87. Susan Power, Head of Legal Research and Advocacy, Al-Haq, Palestine
88. Prabir Purkayastha, Editor, Newsclick.in, India
89. Jacques Rancière, Professeur émérite, Université Paris 8, France
90. Roshdi Rashed, CNRS/Université de Paris, France
91. Bernard Ravenel, Historian, France
92. Steven Rose, Emeritus Professor of Biology and Neurobiology at the Open University and Gresham College, London, United Kingdom
93. Hilary Rose, Professor Emerita Sociology University of Bradfor, United Kingdom
94. Jonathan Rosenhead, Emeritus Professor of Operational Research at the London School of Economics, United Kingdom
95. Andrew Ross, Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis, New York University, United States
96. Alice Rothchild, MD, retired, Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Harvard Medical School, United States
97. Joan Russow, Researcher, Global Compliance Research Project, Canada
98. Richard Seaford, Emeritus Professor, University of Exeter, United Kingdom
99. Leila Shahid, Former Ambassador of Palestine, Palestine
100. Eyal Sivan, Filmmaker – Essayist, France
101. John Smith, Filmmaker, Emeritus Professor of Fine Art, University of East London, United Kingdom
102. George Smith, Emeritus Professor, University of Missouri; 2018 Nobel Chemistry Laureate, United States
103. Nirit Sommerfeld, Singer, actress, writer, Germany
104. Ahdaf Soueif, Writer, Egypt
105. Gayatri Spivak, Columbia University, United States
106. Jonathan Steele, Author and journalist, United Kingdom
107. Annick Suzor-Weiner, Professor emeritus, Université Paris-Saclay, France
108. Salim Tamari, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Birzeit University, Palestine
109. Virginia Tilley, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, United States
110. Salim Vally, Professor, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
111. Roger Waters, Musician, United Kingdom
112. Thomas G. Weiss, The CUNY Graduate Center, United States
113. Robert Wintemute, Professor of Human Rights Law, King’s College London, United Kingdom
114. John Womack jr, Harvard University, United States

* Institutional affiliations are given only for identification purposes

* The full list of signatories is available here.

* Version française; versión en español; versione italiana; النسخة العربية