Hundreds of global figures call on Biden to uphold Palestinian rights

More than 680 prominent global leaders have called on US President Joe Biden to honor his commitments toward protecting the human rights of the Palestinians and bring an end to Israeli domination and oppression.

In a recent open letter, the groups and individuals from 75 countries demanded that the Biden administration assure "accountability for Israeli authorities that violate Palestinian rights".

“We, the undersigned global coalition of leaders – from civil society to business, the arts and faith communities, politics and Nobel laureates – call for US leadership to take action to help bring an end to Israel’s institutionalized domination and oppression of the Palestinian people and protect their fundamental human rights."

Signatories include human rights groups, lawyers, former officials and leaders, US academics, civil society activists, Palestinian NGOs, Christian Aid, former Irish President Mary Robinson, expatriate Israeli academic Ilan Pappe, US academic Noam Chomsky, Israel's former Attorney General Michael Ben-Yair, and former Knesset (Israeli parliament) speaker Avraham Burg, among others.

They also urged Biden to apply "concerted diplomatic pressure" against Israel to end its "ever-expanding discrimination and oppression" of the Palestinians and to end Washington's policy of maintaining the "political status quo devoid of justice and accountability".

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''Moving forward, the United States must address the root causes of the violence, which successive administrations have neglected. Your administration must apply concerted diplomatic pressure to help end the ever-expanding discrimination and systemic oppression and ensure accountability for Israeli authorities that violate Palestinian rights.''

Elsewhere in the letter, the global leaders urged Biden to bring an end to US unconditional support for the Israeli regime. 

Blinken off to Mideast to reaffirm US support to Israeli regime after crushing defeat

Before embarking on the trip, Antony Blinken reiterated US support to the Israeli regime, saying the Biden administration remains committed to providing it with what it needs to defend itself.

“Only a consistent application of a rights–centered foreign policy can signal to Israel’s leaders that violations of international law will no longer go unaccounted for. Mr. President, now is the time to set a new benchmark in American foreign policy that leads with justice and paves the way toward lasting peace,” they concluded their letter.

“Even after a formal ceasefire, Israeli police and settler violence against Palestinians continues. The forced dispossession of Palestinians across the occupied West Bank, including families living in the East Jerusalem neighborhoods of Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan, and aggressive actions by Israeli forces against peaceful protesters and worshippers at Al–Aqsa Mosque, are the latest evidence of a separate and unequal governing system."

The Israeli policies have led to the recent displacement of 72,000 Palestinians in Gaza who must also survive the ongoing humanitarian crisis caused by a 14–year blockade, they said. 

On Tuesday, Israel again launched airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, breaching a unilateral ceasefire on May 21 which ended 11 days of continuous Israeli airstrikes on Gaza. The Israeli aggression on Gaza killed over 260 Palestinians, including 66 children, and displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians in the besieged enclave.

The Gaza aggression was provoked by the Israeli regime’s continued acts of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, including attempts to displace Palestinians in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and Israeli violence against worshippers at al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Gaza-based resistance groups did not sit idly by in the face of the Israeli onslaught.

Appearing noticeably stronger than before, the Palestinian fighters took Israel by surprise with massive barrages of retaliatory rockets.

An Israeli newspaper recently said in a report that Tel Aviv begged the US to mediate a ceasefire during the 11-day military aggression on the besieged Gaza Strip.

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