Non-Aligned Nations Urge Sanctions Against Israel

The 115-member developing states of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM),
meeting in South Africa at the weekend, has condemned Israel’s
"Apartheid Wall," saying it infringes Palestinians’ rights, and urged
all of its members to act ³individually or collectively" to impose
sanctions both against Israeli settlements and international companies
that participate in settlement activity, including construction of the Wall.

The decision of the Non-Aligned Movement followed a non-binding ruling
against the fence by the International Court of Justice in The Hague in
June. The Hague court’s ruling was echoed by a UN General Assembly
resolution

115 Non-Aligned Nations Urge Sanctions Against Israel

Durban Declaration Avoids US Veto, Condemns Arafat’s Siege

22/08/ 2004

Palestine Media Center ­ PMC

The115 -member developing states of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM),
meeting in South Africa at the weekend, has condemned Israel’s
“Apartheid Wall,” saying it infringes Palestinians’ rights, and urged
all of its members to act “individually or collectively” to impose
sanctions both against Israeli settlements and international companies
that participate in settlement activity, including construction of the Wall.

At least eighty foreign ministers attending a Non-Aligned Movement
meeting in Durban, South Africa, on Thursday unanimously passed the
Durban declaration pressing for a peaceful, political settlement of the
conflict between Palestinians and Israel.

“The ministers called on the (UN) Security Council to fulfill its
responsibilities by adopting a clear resolution and undertaking
necessary measures” to stop Israel from constructing its Apartheid Wall
on occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, said the declaration.

South Africa hosted the14 th Ministerial Conference of NAM, a “mid-term
review” between the last heads of state and government’s summit in
Malaysia last year and the next in Cuba in2006 .

The Durban meeting endorsed the recent International Court of Justice
(ICJ) advisory decision against Israel’s building of its Apartheid Wall.

In the following days, the Non-Aligned Movement will be calling on UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan to expedite the register of damages caused
by the construction of the Wall, and will be convening a further
conference to consider how member states can build a broad coalition
together to work towards a peaceful resolution of the entire Middle East
situation.

The NAM foreign ministers reaffirmed the need for an early convening of
a special meeting of regional and international groupings aimed at
building a broad partnership for achieving a peaceful solution to the
long-running conflict, further mobilizing the international community in
support of the two-State solution, based on the pre- 1967borders and on
international law, the declaration said.

The conference noted Israel’s “negative reaction” to the ICJ’s decision
that the Wall was a breach of international law, and called on member
states to take measures “collectively, regionally and individually” to
prevent any products of illegal Israeli settlements from entering their
markets.

In a final document, NAM wanted the United Nations Security Council to
adopt a resolution chastising Israel and to take other measures to force
Israel to stop building the600 -kilometer Wall.

The group also urged the Security Council to establish a register of
damages caused by the Wall and then require Israel to pay reparations.

“With regard to member states, the ministers called upon them to
undertake measures ... to prevent any products of illegal Israeli
settlements from entering their markets,” the declaration said.

It also called on them “to decline entry to Israeli settlers and to
impose sanctions against companies and entities involved in the
construction of the wall and other illegal activities in the occupied
Palestinian territory.”

In the declaration, the ministers also urged Israel to respect and abide
by the ICJ ruling.

“Such respect and compliance would positively influence efforts for
achieving a peaceful, political settlement of the conflict based on
international law,” the NAM foreign ministers said.

Arafat’s Siege Denounced

The declaration also condemned the virtual imprisonment to which Israel
has subjected Palestinian President Yaser Arafat for the past two and a
half years, and denounced in strong terms what it said were repeated
threats against his life.

Arafat, in a message to a gathering of the Non-Aligned Movement in
Durban, appealed for a ceasefire with Israel and reconfirmed the
Palestinian Leadership’s commitment to peace as a strategic option and
to a negotiated settlement of the conflict with the Jewish state.

In2002 , South African Minister of Foreign Affairs Zuma led a
Non-Aligned Movement delegation to meet with Arafat in an expression of
solidarity with “the people of Palestine.” The accompanying Department
of Foreign Affairs release declared:

“The NAM delegation reiterated the movement’s outrage at the
intensification of the illegal Israeli occupation, the killing, vast
destruction, the economic strangulation and other atrocities committed
against Palestine and its people.”

Israel condemned NAM as the diplomatic rear guard for the Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO).

“The Non-Aligned Movement is the PLO’s diplomatic rear guard at the UN,
and the reservoir from which the bulk of the automatic majority against
Israel comes,” an Israeli diplomat told Haaretz. “The Palestinians
always recruit the non-aligned countries to adopt resolutions and
instructions that later become the basis for anti-Israel initiatives in
the General Assembly.”

The non-aligned countries with which Israel maintains close relations
are India, Thailand, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Cyprus, Kenya,
Angola, Cameroon, South Africa, Seychelles and the Philippines.

NAM Declaration Avoids US Veto

Speaking as observer at the conference, the Palestinian ambassador to
the United Nations Dr. Nasser Al Kidwa said that the beauty of the
proposals is that they do not have to go through the UN Security
Council, “and face a possible United States veto.”

In October2003 , the United States vetoed a draft UN Security Council
resolution condemning Israel for building its Apartheid Wall. After the
setback, the Palestinians turned to the General Assembly.

The assembly passed a resolution denouncing Israel in last October and
then asked the ICJ in last December to rule whether the Wall is illegal.

The Hague-based ICJ ruled on July that, “the construction of the wall
being built by Israel, the occupying power, in the occupied Palestinian
Territory, including in and around east Jerusalem, and its associated
regime, is contrary to international law."

At the request of NAM and Arab nations, the UN General Assembly held an
emergency special session on July 16 to examine the world court’s ruling
and finally adopted a resolution to demand that Israel comply with the
ICJ advisory opinion.

Al-Kidwa said he was delighted by the movement’s support, saying Israel
had virtually colonized the Palestinians.

“Our right to self-determination must not be conditional to anything, it
is a basic human right,” he said.

At least 16 of the NAM members held a meeting of the special committee
on Palestine on Wednesday to consider further action after the ICJ’s ruling.

They prepared a document that was handed on Wednesday to the movement’s
Committee on Palestine, which is chaired by Malaysia and also includes,
Algeria, Bangladesh, Colombia, Cuba, India, Indonesia, Senegal, South
Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Angola, Benin, Chile, Pakistan, the
Philippines and the Palestinians.

PLO’s chief of the foreign affairs Farouq Al-Kaddoumi told reporters
that the Palestinian state wanted the movement to seek international
sanctions against Israel to pressure it to accept the decision of the ICJ.

Al-Kaddoumi was backed separately by Egypt, which said in a statement in
Durban: “Egypt calls upon the United Nations...to consider what further
action is required to end the illegal situation resulting from the
construction of the wall, taking into account the present advisory
opinion issued by the International Court of Justice.”

“Egypt calls upon the member states to ensure cessation of the
construction of the wall and not to render any assistance to its
construction nor recognize any situation created by or as a consequence
of the construction,” the statement said.

NAM, the largest political grouping outside the United Nations, mainly
consisting of developing countries, originated in the 1955 meeting of 29
Asian and African countries, at which heads of state discussed issues of
common concern including colonialism and the influence of the West.

The principles of the movement, including “respect for the sovereignty
and territorial integrity of all nations,” and “settlement of all
international disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the United
Nations Charter,” remain valid more than 40 years later.