WEST BANK (Dispatches) – More than a hundred international human rights organizations have called for a comprehensive arms embargo on the Zionist regime, warning against the consequences of any weapons trade with the occupying regime over its brutal aggression and atrocities in the Palestinian territories.
In an open letter to the member parties to the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), 120 international organizations in the United States, Europe and Palestine stressed the need for the imposition of a comprehensive two-way arms embargo on the occupying regime, saying that any arms import from or arms export to the regime would make the ATT signatories complicit in its crimes against Palestinians.
“We, the undersigned global coalition of leaders – from civil society to academia, art, media, business, politics, indigenous and faith communities, and people of conscience around the world – call upon the States Parties to the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) to act decisively to put an end to Israel’s notorious use of arms and military equipment for the commission of serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights against Palestinian civilians by immediately imposing a comprehensive two-way arms embargo on Israel,” the letter read.
The groups pointed to the recent aggression by the occupying regime against the besieged Gaza Strip, Tel Aviv’s attempts to forcefully evacuate Palestinians from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East al-Quds, and the brutal repression of peaceful protesters in the occupied West Bank.
The rights organizations said the ATT countries have an obligation to end the regime’s use of arms for committing “serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights against Palestinian civilians.”
“This systematic brutality, perpetrated throughout the past seven decades of Israel’s colonialism, apartheid, pro-longed illegal belligerent occupation, persecution, and closure, is only possible because of the complicity of some governments and corporations around the world,” they said.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates has called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to expedite an investigation into the crimes and violations of the Zionist regime and extremist settlers, and bring perpetrators to justice.
The ministry, in a statement on Saturday, condemned the brutal repression of anti-settlement marches in various areas across the West Bank, particularly in the town of Beita, and sit-ins against the establishment of an illegal settlement outpost on the Palestinian lands in Jabal Sabih.
It also denounced the occupying regime’s military attacks that targeted ambulances and Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank towns of Beita and Kafr Qaddoum, as well as in the Gaza Strip.
The foreign ministry stressed that the regime is pressing ahead with its aggression against the Palestinian nation, especially as it continues to raze buildings and aggressively distributes house demolition notices.