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The Regional Committee of the Heads of Arab Local Authorities in Israel Statement On the Assassination Attempts Against West Bank Mayors

The Regional Committee of the Heads of Arab Local Authorities in Israel

Statement On the Assassination Attempts Against West Bank Mayors

(Excerpts)

Al-Rama, 3 June 1980

1. It is with intense indignation and sorrow that the Committee condemns these acts and it wishes Bassam al-Shak'a and Karim Khalaf a speedy recovery.

2. The Committee believes that as long as the occupation lasts and as long as settlement continues in the occupied areas, and as long as a just and comprehensive solution is not reached that meets the just demands of the Palestinian Arab people, first and foremost of which is their demand for the establishment of their independent state, there can be no stability or security. This Committee, therefore, calls on the government of Israel to end the occupation of, and settlement in, the occupied areas immediately, and to devote serious efforts to reaching a just solution of the Palestine question that secures the Palestinian Arab people’s right to self-determination and to establish their independent state alongside Israel, and that safeguards the right of the peoples and states of the area to sovereignty, independence and security.

3. The Committee believes that the criminal and provocative activity that is being organized and carried out by racist and Zionist groups is a serious matter that cannot be passed under silence. We therefore call on the government to eliminate these extremist gangs and elements, and disarm them immediately, or to admit its inability to do so and resign.

4. Monday's incidents were one link in a chain of incidents aimed at destroying the nationalist movement in the occupied territories, as represented by its elected and recognized leaderships, for they took place less than a month after the expulsion of the mayors of Hebron and Halhul and the Shari'a judge of Hebron. While condemning all the above criminal acts, this Committee demands that the expelled and exiled leaders be allowed to return to their homes immediately.

5. The Committee expresses its appreciation of all democratic and reasonable Jewish forces and personalities who have condemned the activities of the extremist, racist gangs, from their realization of the extent of the dangers involved in the continued pursuit of the policy of occupation and settlement and of the growth of extremist forces under cover of that policy. It calls on these forces to intensify their resistance and their struggle in the interests of the Jewish and Arab peoples, the peoples of the area and the peoples of the world.

6. The Committee calls on all heads and members of Arab local authorities to call a meeting of local and municipal councils on Thursday, June 5, and to take part in a protest meeting of all members of Arab local authorities at 10 a.m., in the Nazareth Cultural Centre.

7. We call on all sectors of the Arab masses to take judicious and well-considered steps to confront the present situation and to maintain their unity of ranks and their vigilance. At the same time, we call on the Jewish masses in general to restrain the increasing lawlessness of the extremist racist forces, and to work with us to establish a just and comprehensive peace in the area that secures the just rights of all its peoples and states, and ensures that they can live in security, stability and cooperation.

 

Source: Journal of Palestine Studies, vol. x, no 1, Autumn 1980.