INTERFAITH PEACE PILGRIMAGE AND SOLIDARITY VISIT TO PALESTINE-ISRAEL

International Conference on Justice for Palestine

2007 November 10-12 | Hotel Toledo, Amman, Jordan

MEDIA RELEASE

Confronting Empire: People of Faith in Support of Palestine

Issued by Peace for Life

2007 November 13

Delegates at an inter-faith conference in Amman committed themselves to and called on peace movements, churches and faith groups around the world to mark 2008 as a year to commemorate 60 years of Palestinian Nakba (The Catastrophe: the expulsion of the majority of the Palestinian population from their homes in what became the state of Israel in 1948). The conference also resolved to use various means to highlight, in different parts of the world, the plight of the Palestinian people living under occupation, colonialism and apartheid.

As various parties claim to be preparing to talk peace at the US-sponsored Annapolis meeting next month, conference organisers said the US and Israel were actually undermining peace. In a strongly worded Declaration, delegates critically examined the US Empire as a threat to world peace and condemned Israeli occupation.

The conference, from the 10th to the 12th November, was organised by the international inter-faith organisation Peace for Life. Bringing together about 60 Christians, Muslims, Jews and Hindus from 20 countries, the conference came at the end of a solidarity visit to Palestine. During the solidarity visit, delegates visited refugee camps and sacred places, met with NGOs, churches and church-related institutions, and political groups and discussed various ways in which people of faith can participate in expressing concrete solidarity with the Palestinian people.

The Declaration places the Israeli occupation within the agenda of US unilateralism, saying it serves the geopolitical and capitalist interests of the US. It was also critical of US and Israeli violations of international law and the destabilising of the Middle East. US imperial objectives, the Declaration says, are based on racist and patriarchal systems and seek to maintain global hegemony in the service of its corporations and expansionist aims and an ideology that imperialises and continues to manipulate religion. The United Nations Security Council also came in for criticism for being complicit in allowing the US to prevent the Council from taking any action against Israel’s illegalities.

The conference, in three days of deliberations, linked occupation, colonialism and apartheid as part of a single global agenda. The US occupation of Iraq, Israeli occupation of Palestine and other Arab lands and Israeli apartheid were placed under the microscope, highlighting how they threaten peace and undermine justice.

Delegates said they felt inspired and emboldened by the resistance of the Palestinian people and committed themselves to strengthening Palestinian solidarity as well as using the inspirational Palestinian struggle to further involve themselves in struggles for justice in various parts of the world.

Noting the continuing land theft through the Apartheid Wall, the building of settlements, house demolitions and other means, the discrimination faced by Palestinian citizens of Israel, the brutal military occupation, the inhumane treatment of Palestinian political prisoners, including children, and various other violations of international law and human rights, the conference expressed support for Palestinians that are struggling for their inalienable rights. It also endorsed the struggle for the realisation of the self-determination of the Palestinian people, expressed support for the establishment of a sovereign, viable and contiguous Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and firmly supported the right of return of Palestinian refugees to their homes.

This media release, issued by Peace for Life in two languages (English and Arabic), was circulated online and distributed to the members of the media during the press conference held on the last day of the Amman conference. It was published in full in the national newspaper in Jordan.