PALESTINE: ONGOING APARTHEID AND COLONIAL REGIME
Since 1948, Palestinians have been living under a colonial and apartheid regime that violates different rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, starting by the article number 1 “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”.
The State of Israel is imposing different laws upon the Jewish and the Palestinian communities, and a differentiated regime for Palestinians living within Israel pre-1967 borders, in the occupied territory, or in the diaspora.
On a daily basis, the Palestinian people is subjected to arbitrary arrestations, collective punishments, restriction on their freedom of movement, torture, house demolitions, arbitrary court ruling, political repression, and regular military incursions.
The European Union is complicit with the colonial and apartheid regime of the State of Israel, through not respecting its duty of non-recognition and non-assistance of Israeli occupied territories, and through enabling a climate of impunity surrounding the state’s actions. While the State of Israel violates human rights and international law, the EU is granting it preferential trade agreements or funding for its companies through the research programs. The EU is also complicit through its refusal to take any sanctions regarding the violations committed in Palestine.
WHO WE ARE
The European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine (ECCP) was founded in 1986 as a network of European committees, organisations, NGOs and international solidarity movements, dedicated to the struggle of the Palestinian people for freedom and justice. ECCP is based in Brussels and has a legal status as a non-profit organisation under Belgian law.
ECCP in its work is trying to challenge EU complicity with Israel’s ongoing violations of International Law and Palestinian rights. We are coordinating political actions, grassroots campaigns and debates at the European level, highlighting the ways in which the EU, despite its many verbal condemnations, continues to fund Israeli companies and institutions that are directly involved in the maintenance of the Israeli regime of apartheid, colonialism and occupation.
ECCP OBJECTIVES:
ECCP supports a ‘rights-based approach’ (focusing on the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people) as opposed to a ‘solution-based approach’.
- The right of the Palestinian people to self-determination as enshrined in international law and relevant UN resolutions
- An end to the 1967 occupation of all Arab lands, particularly the occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza, and its associated regime
- The right of Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality
- Respect, protection and promotion of the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes as stipulated in UN Resolution 194
- The unconditional release of all Palestinian prisoners
OUR MEMBERS:
AUSTRIA
Society for Austro-Arab Relations – SAAR
BELGIUM
Association Belgo-Palestinienne (ABP)
Belgian Academics and Artists for Palestine – BAA4P
Centre National de Coopération au Développement (CNCD.11.11.11)
Plateforme Charleroi Palestine
CZECH REPUBLIC
Initiative for a Just Peace in the Middle East
FINLAND
The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) – Finland
Finnish-Arab Friendship Society
FRANCE
Association France Palestine Solidarite (AFPS)
Plateforme des ONG françaises pour la Palestine
Union Juive Française pour la Paix (UJFP)
GERMANY
Deutscher Koordinationskreis Palastina Israel (KOPI)
Buendnis fuer Gerechtigkeit zwischen Israelis und Palaestinensern e.V. BIP
IRELAND
Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign
ITALY
LITHUANIA
LATVIA
LUXEMBOURG
Comite Pour Une Paix Juste Au Proche –Orient (CPJPO)
THE NETHERLANDS
Netherlands Palestina Komittee
NORWAY
Fellesutvalget for Palestina – The Association of Norwegian NGOs for Palestine
SCOTLAND
Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign
SLOVENIA
SLOVAKIA
SPAIN
SWEDEN
The Palestine Solidarity Association of Sweden (PGS)
SWITZERLAND
Association Switzerland Palestine (ASP)
UK
British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP)
Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions UK
Jewish Voice For Just Peace