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320 officials from Latin America: Sanction Israel if it annexes West Bank

July 3, 2020 at 3:29 pm

Israelis gather to stage a demonstration to protest against Israel’s annexation plan for the illegal settlements in West Bank and Jordan Valley, in Tel Aviv, Israel on June 6, 2020 [Nir Keidar / Anadolu Agency]

More than 320 scholars, former presidents and legislators from Latin America joined forces to condemn Israel’s planned annexation of parts of the occupied Palestinian territories.

In a joint statement, the public personalities said: “The increasing severity of the Israeli violations and its impunity compel us to answer to the call made by the vast majority of organisations from the Palestinian civil society.”

We support the Palestinian people’s demands to end the arm trades and the military and security cooperation with Israel; to lift the free trade agreements with that State; to ban the trade with the illegal Israeli settlements; and to hold accountable the individuals and cooperative actors, complicit with such regime of occupation and apartheid.

“We are committed to work, within our respective national frameworks, in order to speak up for the implementation of such measures,” they added.

Read: Belgium calls for sanctions against Israel if it annexes West Bank

Argentine recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize Adolfo Pérez Esquivel; Brazilian musicians Chico Buarque and Caetano Veloso; former Presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Dilma Rousseff (Brazil), Pepe Mujica (Uruguay), Fernando Lugo (Paraguay), Rafael Correa (Ecuador) and Ernesto Samper (Colombia); former Minister of Foreign Relations of Brazil Celso Amorim; and Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, former Secretary of Human Rights of Brazil were among the signatories which included 60 Brazilian members of parliament from various parties.

It came as part of an initiative to unify the African, Asian and Latin American response to annexation and call for sanctions against Israel and the reinstatement of the UN Special Committee against Apartheid to restrain its colonial policies.

Former Brazilian chancellor Celso Amorim added: “The annexation of the Palestinian territory by Israel is not just an offense against the international law and a threat to the peace, but also an aggression against men and women who fought against colonialism and apartheid.”

Read: Britain does not support Israel’s annexation of West Bank, says Boris Johnson