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24 May 2007
To His Excellency Mr. Javier Solana
High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy,
Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union
Brussels, Belgium
Dear Mr. Solana,
You will undoubtedly have heard the news that Israeli occupation forces have carried out 33 kidnappings today of democratically-elected Palestinian officials, including lawmakers, mayors and the minister of education in the Palestinian Authority.
All of the kidnap victims are reported to be affiliated with Hamas, the movement which won the elections held in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip in January 2006. I believe these latest kidnappings have taken place in part because of your previous silence and inaction when Israel carried out similar kidnappings shortly after the elections. The total impunity that Israel and its officials enjoy when they violate the Fourth Geneva Conventions, UN Security Council Resolutions, the Universal Declarations of Human Rights, and agreements with the European Union, can only further encourage this rogue state to violate the rights of the Palestinian people.
At the same time, disturbing news reports indicate that collaborator militias armed and financed by the United States, and aided and abetted by Israel and the European Union are continuing to infiltrate into the occupied territories. These militias, led by Muhammad Dahlan, sparked the recent bloodshed in the Gaza Strip, and are acting as quisling forces against the Palestinian people under occupation. They play a similar role to the Contras in Nicaragua in the 1980s.
I am writing to demand that the European Union take the following actions:
(1) Invoke Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association agreement to suspend all bilateral aid and agreements with Israel until all political prisoners and hostages are released.
(2) In particular, to observe the Palestinian civil society call for boycott of Israeli academic institutions at least until such time as all restrictions on Palestinian educational institutions are lifted by the occupation forces and the kidnapped education minister Mr. Nasser al-Sha\'er is freed by the rogue forces who have taken him hostage.
(3) Cease all EU aid and support for collaborator militias and quisling forces.
Yours sincerely,
Ali Abunimah
Co-founder, The Electronic Intifada
SIRATYST (Stuff I Read and Thought You Should Too) -- “To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace.” (Calgacus, as quoted by Tacitus, Agricola 30-31)"
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