WASHINGTON (Dispatches) – More than 680 global leaders, from politicians and Nobel laureates to leading academics and peace advocates, have called on U.S. President Joe Biden to honor his commitments towards protecting the human rights of Palestinians.
In an open letter published earlier this week, the group called on Biden to put “human rights at the centre of U.S. foreign policy” and to “help bring an end to the Zionist regime’s institutionalized domination and oppression of the Palestinian people”.
“A sustainable and just peace - for all people - will remain elusive if U.S. policy holds to a political status quo devoid of justice and accountability,” the letter read.
“Moving forward, the United States must address the root causes of the violence, which successive administrations have neglected.
“Your administration must apply concerted diplomatic pressure to help end the ever-expanding discrimination and systemic oppression and ensure accountability for Israeli authorities that violate Palestinian rights.”
The signatories included Israel’s former attorney general Michael Ben-Yair; former Knesset speaker Avraham Burg; former Irish President Mary Robinson; 2011 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Tawakkol Karman; Israeli academic Ilan Pappé; American professor Noam Chomsky; and a number of British lawmakers among others.
At least 260 Palestinians, including 66 children, were killed in the Zionist regime’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip in 11 days of the war that began on May 10. The reigme’s airstrikes also brought widespread devastation to the already impoverished territory.
The Gaza-based resistance movements responded by launching over 4,000 rockets into the occupied territories, some reaching as far as Tel Aviv and even Haifa and Nazareth to the north.
The Zionist regime was eventually forced to announce a ceasefire, brokered by Egypt, which came into force in the early hours of May 21.
During the offensive by the Zionist regime on the besieged Gaza Strip, Biden came under criticism for not calling for a ceasefire immediately.
The U.S. president on May 15 held a telephone conversation with then Zionist prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and reaffirmed his strong support for what he described as the regime’s right to defend itself against retaliatory rocket attacks from Gaza-based Palestinian resistance factions.