Unified Call from Palestinian Civil Society

Date: June 12, 2025

Unified Call from Palestinian Civil Society

As UN member states prepare to meet in New York on June 17 for a high-level international conference on a peaceful settlement of the Palestinian issue, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, and in parallel with France’s preparations for a meeting on June 13 with selected parties to issue an “urgent call for action to the international community” before the conference, we, the Palestinian institutions and coalitions signing below in Palestine and abroad, reaffirm our unified demands for a just and legal settlement based on the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.

Drawing from decades of deep involvement in our community and our experience in international advocacy, the Palestinian civil society has witnessed the catastrophic consequences of the symbolic, exclusionary, and ineffective international political approach. This upcoming conference could be a real turning point, but only if it is refocused on its legal foundation, as outlined in UN General Assembly Resolution ES-10/24, which is based on decades of existing international legal commitments. This resolution welcomed the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice issued in July 2024, calling on Israel to comply with international law, including ending its illegal occupation, achieving the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and return, and urging third-party states to take concrete actions, including sanctions and accountability, to ensure respect for international law.

However, this legal foundation has been marginalized in the preparations, including the “civil society” meeting in Paris, where the agenda for a two-state solution has been promoted, which does not address the realities of fragmentation, blockade, and genocide under an ongoing settler-colonial system. For decades, international policies toward the Palestinian issue have ignored the glaring power imbalance between the colonizer and the colonized, treating the “two sides” as equals, and directing diplomatic and economic resources toward processes that shield Israel from accountability, while managing — rather than ending — the root causes of injustice, which have spanned over seven decades of Israeli settler-colonialism, ongoing apartheid through military occupation, blockade, and genocide.

Any approach that promotes dialogue with Israeli authorities, organizations, or individuals who do not challenge the settler-colonial system or recognize the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people, foremost the right to self-determination and return, is nothing but normalization of Israel’s ongoing crimes. A just solution to the Palestinian issue requires a fundamental shift away from narrow and misleading frameworks about “state-building” and “peace-building” under the ongoing occupation, toward a political approach that dismantles settler-colonialism, apartheid, and Israeli occupation, and ensures the Palestinian people’s rights to self-determination and return.

While our people stand firm in the face of genocide, starvation policies, ethnic cleansing, and settlement expansion, now is not the time to recycle failure in new formulations. It is time, after long delay, for real steps: genuine accountability, continued international pressure, and the urgent imposition of sanctions to dismantle Israel’s illegal system and ensure the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.

Therefore, we call on all countries, institutions, and parties participating in the conference to:

1. Ground all solutions in the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including:

   • The right to self-determination, a peremptory norm under international law, for all Palestinians, numbering 15 million. This right does not begin or end with the establishment of a state, but includes the collective will of the people to freely determine their political status, and to seek economic, social, and cultural development, including sovereignty over land and resources.

   • The right of return for all Palestinian refugees who were displaced during the Nakba of 1948, the 1967 Naksa, and all subsequent waves of forced displacement.

   • The right to full compensation, including restitution, reparation, and guarantees of non-repetition.

2. Immediately stop the genocide and end the blockade on Gaza:

   • This requires an immediate, unconditional ceasefire, withdrawal of Israeli military forces from Gaza, and the provision of humanitarian aid immediately and without restrictions.

3. Dismantle Israeli settler-colonial and apartheid structures through:

   • Enforcing the right to self-determination and return.

   • Repealing all discriminatory laws against Palestinians.

   • Ending the military occupation.

   • Lifting the blockade on the Gaza Strip.

4. Support Palestinian efforts to rebuild a unified, democratic Palestinian leadership that represents the Palestinian people in Palestine and abroad by:

   • Ending the criminalization of Palestinian political factions and attempts to delegitimize them, and supporting national reconciliation efforts without imposing conditions.

   • Pressuring Israel to release all Palestinian political prisoners and end arbitrary detention and torture.

5. Implement tangible accountability measures:

   • In line with state obligations arising from violations of peremptory norms of international law, including not recognizing, assisting, or supporting Israel’s apartheid system, genocide, illegal occupation, and violation of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination. This includes:

     • Enforcing a comprehensive military embargo:

       • Including all weapons, military technologies, security and surveillance equipment, aircraft fuel, joint training exercises, military bases, halting all exports, imports, and transits of all parts and components, and other dual-use materials;

     • Imposing diplomatic sanctions, including the expulsion of Israeli ambassadors, suspending official visits, and ending cooperation with Israeli authorities;

     • Targeted sanctions, including travel bans and asset freezes on individuals and institutions involved in Israel’s international crimes;

     • Ending all economic aid and cooperation agreements that support Israel’s illegal occupation and apartheid system, including canceling free trade agreements;

     • Imposing a comprehensive energy embargo, including halting all oil, gas, and coal imports and exports; withdrawing investments from resource extraction projects; and ending agreements related to transportation, pipelines, and infrastructure projects involving the occupied Palestinian territories, including maritime areas;

     • Banning the passage and docking of ships carrying weapons, military equipment, dual-use materials, fuel, or goods that support the Israeli occupation, genocide, apartheid, or illegal settlements;

     • Ending all free trade agreements and bilateral or multilateral cooperation, especially the EU-Israel partnership agreement, for violating Article 2, and all EU-funded cooperation programs, including academic, cultural, and sports programs, and the free trade agreement between Mercosur and Israel;

     • Enacting national legislation to prevent companies operating within your jurisdiction from working, trading, investing, or supporting Israel’s occupation, including its settlement project;

     • Ensuring divestment from Israeli companies or those complicit in international crimes by companies and financial institutions within your jurisdiction;

     • Revoking all local laws and policies that criminalize solidarity with Palestine, especially the right to protest and boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaigns (BDS);

     • Investigating and prosecuting those involved in crimes against Palestinians, including dual-national individuals in the Israeli army, and issuing directives to deter recruitment;

     • Activating universal jurisdiction to prosecute perpetrators of international crimes against Palestinians in local courts;

     • Implementing arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for Netanyahu and Gallant by arresting and transferring them to The Hague if found within your jurisdiction, including airspace;

     • Supporting the International Criminal Court’s investigation into the situation in Palestine by protecting its staff, lifting sanctions, increasing financial support, and pressuring Israel to allow court officials to access Palestine for independent investigations;

     • Referring the situation in Palestine to the International Criminal Court where this has not yet been done, with a focus on apartheid, genocide, and crimes related to the illegal occupation;

     • Supporting cases before the International Court of Justice, including South Africa’s case against Israel regarding genocide, and Nicaragua’s case against Germany for assisting in this, including submitting an intervention declaration under Article 63 of the Court’s statute;

     • Joining The Hague Group and coordinating with Global South countries to enforce accountability measures supporting the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination;

     • Urging the UN General Assembly to reconstitute the Special Committee on Apartheid and the UN Centre for the Elimination of Apartheid to end the Israeli apartheid system;

     • Urging the UN General Assembly to suspend Israel’s membership due to its violation of membership conditions, including non-compliance with Resolution 194, and its systematic violations and attacks on UN principles and institutions;

     • Supporting the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, including pressuring Israel to allow the Commission access to Palestine for independent investigations.

This conference represents a critical opportunity to move from ineffective frameworks toward taking meaningful steps that could lead to a just solution to the Palestinian issue through actions based on international law principles. As Palestinian civil society, we speak with one voice: any forward path must begin with confronting and dismantling colonial domination structures and ensuring the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.

التواقيع الفلسطينية: 

1. اللجنة الوطنية الفلسطينية لمقاطعة إسرائيل وسحب الاستثمارات منها وفرض العقوبات عليها (BDS)

2. الهيئة الفلسطينية للدبلوماسية العامة (PIPD)

3.  مؤسسة الحق

4.  مؤسسة الحق أوروبا

5. لائتلاف الأهلي للدفاع عن حقوق الفلسطينيين في القدس

6. معهد الأبحاث التطبيقية – القدس (أريج)

7. الهيئة الدولية لدعم حقوق الشعب الفلسطيني‎ “حشد”

8. فلسطينيات

9. مركز بيسان للبحوث والتنمية

10. تصوير فلسطين/ Visualizing Palestine

11. جمعية التطوير الاجتماعي

12. مركز العمل المجتمعي – جامعة القدس

13. القانون من أجل فلسطين

14. مساواة – المركز الفلسطيني لاستقلال المحاماة والقضاء

15.  بيتنا – تجمع الفلسطينين والعرب في بلجيكا

16. مؤسسة قادر للتنمية المجتمعية

17. اللجنة البريطانية-الفلسطينية

18. مركز الدراسات النسوية

19. المبادرة الفلسطينية لتعميق الحوار العالمي والديمقراطية – مفتاح

20. الهيئة الفلسطينية للإعلام وتفعيل دور الشباب

21. مركز حقوق اللاجئين – عائدون

22. الحركة العالمية للدفاع عن الأطفال – فلسطين

23. جمعية المرأة العاملة الفلسطينية للتنمية (PWWS)

24. المركز الفلسطيني للمفقودين والمخفيين قسرًا

25. الائتلاف من أجل النزاهة والمساءلة – أمان-

26. الحملة الشعبية لمقاومة الجدار والاستيطان

27. إتحاد النقابات العمالية الفلسطينية الجديدة

28. بناء فلسطين/ Build Palestine

29.  مشروع عدالة/ Adalah Justice Project

30. “طوارئ فلسطين” / Urgence Palestine

31. اتحاد لجان العمل الزراعي

32.  أصدقاء جمعية الإغاثة الطبية الفلسطينية

33. المنتدى الاجتماعي التنموي

34. مركز الإرشاد النفسي والاجتماعي للمرأة

35. الحملة الأمريكية من أجل حقوق الفلسطينيين (USCPR)

36.  جمعية ريحانة – مخيم العزة

37. جمعية الرواد للثقافة والفنون

38.  إحياء غزة / Reviving Gaza

39. Gaza Families Reunited

40. أبناء غزة في المملكة المتحدة

41. Makan Rights

42. مركز سبيل لاهوت التحرير المسكوني – Sabeel

الداعمون الدوليون:

1. South African BDS Coalition

2. Palestine Solidarity Alliance, South Africa

3. Housing and Land Rights Network – Habitat International Coalition

4. Legal Forum for Kashmir

5. Pal Commission on War Crimes, Justice, Reparations, and Return

6. Arab Women Organization of Jordan

7. International Peace Bureau (IPB)

8. SERAPAZ (Mexico)

9. Jenin Freedom Cinema Club California

10. International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR)

11. Red Eclesial Justicia y Paz en la Patria Grande (ALyC)

12. CBJP Comissão Brasileira Justiça e Paz

13. Llegó la Hora de los Pueblos, Colectivo de Apoyo al CNI CIG – EZLN

14. Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA)

15. Comisión de Justicia, Paz e Integridad de la Creación

16. Solidarity 2020 and Beyond

17. Cuidadores de la Casa Común

18. Hijas e Hijos por la Identidad y la Justicia contra el Olvido y el Silencio H.I.J.O.S., (Guatemala)

19. Park Avenue Baptist Church

20. World BEYOND War

21. GPPAC Pacific

22. Global Exchange

23. The Palestinian Solidarity Organisation (PSO) at Mandela University

24. Movimiento Franciscano Justicia, Paz e Integridad de la Creación

25. Mesa Ecuménica por la Paz – MEP –

26. Coalición de Movimientos y Organizaciones Sociales de Colombia – COMOSOC –

27. FabLanka Foundation

28. Australia Palestine Advocacy Network

29. Muslim Peace Fellowship

30. Community Media Network

31. Observatorio Latinoamericano de Geopolitica

32. Global Solidarity Coalition for Peace in Palestine

33. STOP the War Coalition Philippines

34. Palestinian-Canadian Academics and Artists Network

35. Programa Latinoamericano y Caribeño de tierras y agua