January 1, 2010
Gaza Freedom Marchers issue the "Cairo Declaration" to end Israeli
Apartheid
(Cairo) Gaza Freedom Marchers approved today a declaration aimed at
accelerating the global campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
(BDS) against Israeli Apartheid.
Roughly 1400 activists from 43 countries converged in Cairo on their
way to Gaza to join with Palestinians marching to break Israel's
illegal siege. They were prevented from entering Gaza by the Egyptian
authorities.
As a result, the Freedom Marchers remained in Cairo. They staged a
series of nonviolent actions aimed at pressuring the international
community to end the siege as one step in the larger struggle to secure
justice for Palestinians throughout historic Palestine.
This declaration arose from those actions:
End Israeli Apartheid
Cairo Declaration
January 1, 2010
We, international delegates meeting in Cairo during the Gaza Freedom
March 2009 in collective response to an initiative from the South
African delegation, state:
In view of:
o Israel's ongoing collective punishment of Palestinians through
the illegal occupation and siege of Gaza;
o the illegal occupation of the West Bank, including East
Jerusalem, and the continued construction of the illegal Apartheid Wall
and settlements;
o the new Wall under construction by Egypt and theUS which will
tighten even further the siege of Gaza;
o the contempt for Palestinian democracy shown byIsrael, the US,
Canada, the EU and others after the Palestinian elections of 2006;
o the war crimes committed by Israel during the invasion of Gaza
one year ago;
o the continuing discrimination and repression faced by
Palestinians within Israel;
o and the continuing exile of millions of Palestinian refugees;
o all of which oppressive acts are based ultimately on the Zionist
ideology which underpins Israel;
o in the knowledge that our own governments havegiven Israel
direct economic, financial, military and diplomatic support and allowed
it to behave with impunity;
o and mindful of the United Nations Declaration onthe Rights of
Indigenous People (2007)
We reaffirm our commitment to:
Palestinian Self-Determination
Ending the Occupation
Equal Rights for All within historic Palestine
The full Right of Return for Palestinian refugees
We therefore reaffirm our commitment to the United Palestinian call of
July 2005 for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) to compel Israel
to comply with international law.
To that end, we call for and wish to help initiate a global mass,
democratic anti-apartheid movement to work in full consultation with
Palestinian civil society to implement the Palestinian call for BDS.
Mindful of the many strong similarities between apartheid Israel and
the former apartheid regime in South Africa, we propose:
1) An international speaking tour in the first 6months of 2010 by
Palestinian and South African trade unionists and civil society
activists, to be joined by trade unionists and activists committed to
this programme within the countries toured, to take mass education on
BDS directly to the trade union membership and wider public
internationally;
2) Participation in the Israeli Apartheid Week inMarch 2010;
3) A systematic unified approach to the boycott ofIsraeli
products, involving consumers, workers and their unions in the retail,
warehousing, and transportation sectors;
4) Developing the Academic, Cultural and Sports boycott;
5) Campaigns to encourage divestment of trade union and other
pension funds from companies directly implicated in the Occupation
and/or the Israeli military industries;
6) Legal actions targeting the external recruitment of soldiers to
serve in the Israeli military, and the prosecution of Israeli
government war criminals; coordination of Citizen's Arrest Bureaux to
identify, campaign and seek to prosecute Israeli war criminals; support
for the Goldstone Report and the implementation of its recommendations;
7) Campaigns against charitable status of the Jewish National Fund
(JNF).
We appeal to organisations and individuals committed to this
declaration to sign it and work with us to make it a reality.
Please e-mail us at cairodec@gmail. com
