[My friend Nusi tells me they have 300 names so far, and hope to publish it in the NYT and Washington Post, among other places]
Israeli Intellectuals Appeal for International Intervention In the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
We, citizens of Israel, are extremely concerned about the rapid deterioration of the Palestinian state of existence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. We consider the Jewish settlements in the occupied territories a continual act of aggression against the Palestinian people. After the signing of the Oslo agreements, more than seven years ago, the massive construction of new Jewish settlements and the expansion of former ones have continued relentlessly. The burden of the Israeli occupation has become unbearable for Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza. While we totally condemn acts of terror against innocent civilians, we regard Palestinian violence, on the whole, a legitimate revolt against a colonial occupation. There are no moral and military symmetries between the occupiers and the occupied. Hence we hold the Israeli use of excessive force against the Palestinians as morally and politically wrong.
Israel is now holding almost the entire civilian Palestinian population hostage as a means to fight not only Palestinian terror, but also legitimate Palestinian resistance. The Israeli army has used lethal weapons against violent demonstrators killing over four hundred Palestinians, among them about seventy youth under sixteen, and wounding thousands others. In response to sporadic Palestinian attacks, Israel has been retaliating by bombing and shelling targets in Palestinians cities. Israeli control of all major roads in and around the West Bank has fractured the Palestinian territory, turning it into a series of discontiguous ghettos. Under these conditions, Palestinians can hardly make their living and in some areas there are already signs of famine. Israeli operations are disrupting Palestinian emergency medical services, transportation, and education. Palestinian civilians are also exposed to daily aggression and violence of Jewish settlers. The mental harm caused by years of terrorization, anxiety, loss, humiliation and mourning is inexpressible.
Israel acts as a sovereign that has relinquished all responsibilities to protect the Palestinian population under its jurisdiction. The simultaneity of Palestinian resistance and terror complicates the situation, but this complexity will neither diminish our responsibility nor lower our voice. It is our moral obligation as Israeli citizens to do everything possible to protect the Palestinian population living in the occupied territories. We call upon our fellow citizens and colleagues, to join us in raising our voice against the continued occupation and oppression of the Palestinians and in calling upon an immediate international intervention to stop the killing and wounding of human beings who seek to regain their elementary freedom. We call upon you to urge your governments to go beyond hesitant condemnations of Israeli policies and initiate an international peace force that would help protect the Palestinians from the aggression of the Israeli government and facilitate the resumption of serious negotiations between the parties to the conflict.