No to the Annexation of the West Bank
Resolution adopted on 6 June 2020 by the executive committee of the party DIE LINKE.
DIE LINKE condemns plans announced by the Israeli government under Netanyahu and Gantz to annex sections of the West Bank.
The planned expropriation and annexation of Palestinian land in the Jordan Valley would impose Israel’s administration, laws and jurisdiction on the Palestinian population without granting them Israeli citizenship. Such a step would also have dramatic consequences for all spheres of social life in the occupied Palestinian territories and would further exacerbate the already extremely fragile human rights situation.
It would be a clear violation of international law and an irreversible blow to a two-state solution on the basis of the 1967 borders.
Moreover, the annexation threatens to re-ignite conflict in the region. Under the cover of the COVID-19 pandemic and with the support of the Trump administration, the right-wing Netanyahu-Gantz government is looking to establish “facts on the ground” before the US presidential elections in November 2020.
An annexation of the occupied territory contravenes multiple UN Security Council resolutions, including 242(1967), 478(1980) and 2334(2016).
DIE LINKE calls on the German Federal Government to express its condemnation of the plans to annex the West Bank both directly to the Israeli government and in its capacity as a member of the UN Security Council, and to advocate for the European Union to take a position unanimously rejecting the plans.
Should the Israeli government resolve to carry out the annexation, DIE LINKE will advocate for the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which is based on the Oslo Accords of 1993. DIE LINKE calls on the Federal Government to advance these policies in its capacity as a member of the UN Security Council, the UN Human Rights Council, and, from 1 July 2020, through its presidency of the Council of the European Union.
In the face of the Israeli government’s seeming rejection of a just two-state solution, in which citizens from both sides would live with equal rights, DIE LINKE calls for equal civil rights for Palestinians and Israelis. For DIE LINKE, the following principle holds everywhere and at all times: all inhabitants of every country should enjoy equal rights—irrespective of their religion, language, or ethnic group.
In view of the plans for annexation, DIE LINKE also underlines its call for the suspension of military cooperation with Israel. In order to promote peace in the region, DIE LINKE has long called on the Federal Government to cease military cooperation with all countries in the Middle East. That includes the cessation of arms exports to the region, and the withdrawal of Bundeswehr troops stationed there.
At the same time, DIE LINKE calls on the Federal Government to work towards Israeli and Palestinian self-determination, the recognition of the state of Palestine, and its membership in international organizations. Such a step would amount to the clearest support to those sections of Israeli and Palestinian society that are striving towards a peaceful resolution.
Translated by Gegensatz Translation Collective