peace in Iraq IS an option - Sign the Le Feyt Declaration!

[mary <humdrum2 at libero.it>]

Peace in Iraq IS an option - sign the Le Feyt Declaration!

http://palestinethinktank.com/2008/09/20/peace-in-iraq-is-an-option-sign-the-le-feyt-declaration/

By
Mary Rizzo
• Sep 20th, 2008 at 15:00 • Category:

Counter-terrorism, No thanks!,
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and Projects,
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Resistance,
War

The undersigned, friends of Iraq from France, Belgium, the United
Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the United States of America, Egypt,
Sweden and Iraq, organized in the International Anti-Occupation Network
(IAON) and gathered in Le Feyt, France, from 25 to 27 August 2008, have
adopted the following position and declaration reflecting our commitment
to a true end to the occupation and to a lasting, sustainable peace in
Iraq.

The US occupation of Iraq is illegal and cannot be made legal. All that
has derived from the occupation is illegal and illegitimate and cannot
gain legitimacy. These facts are incontrovertible. What are their
consequences?

Peace, stability and democracy in Iraq are impossible under occupation.
Foreign occupation is opposed by nature to the interests of the occupied
people, as proven by the six million Iraqis displaced both inside and
outside Iraq, the planned assassination of Iraqi academics and
professionals and the destruction of their culture, and the more than one
million killed.

Propaganda in the West tries to make palatable the absurdity that the
invader and destroyer of Iraq can play the role of Iraq’s protector. The
convenient fear of a “security vacuum” ­ used to perpetuate the
occupation ­ ignores the fact that the Iraqi army never capitulated and
forms the backbone of the Iraqi armed resistance. That backbone is
concerned only with defending the Iraqi people and Iraq’s sovereignty.
Similarly, projections of civil war ignore the reality that the Iraqi
population overwhelmingly, by number and by interest, rejects the
occupation and will continue to do so.

In Iraq, the Iraqi people resist the occupation by all means, in
accordance with international law. [1] Only the popular resistance can be
recognized to express and defend the Iraqi people’s interests and will.
Until now the United States is blind to this reality, hoping that a
“diplomatic surge”, following the military surge of effective ethnic
cleansing, will secure a government it imposes on Iraq. Regardless of who
wins the upcoming US presidential election, the US can never achieve its
imperial goals and the forces it imposes on Iraq are opposed to the
interests of the Iraqi people.

Some in the West continue to justify the negation of popular sovereignty
under the rubric of the “war on terror”, criminalizing not only
resistance [2], but also humanitarian assistance to a besieged people.
Under international law the Iraqi resistance constitutes a national
liberation movement. Recognition of the Iraqi resistance is consequently
a right, not an option. [3] The international community has the right to
withdraw recognition from the US-imposed government in Iraq and recognize
the Iraqi resistance.

It is evident that Iraq cannot recover lasting stability, unity and
territorial integrity until its sovereignty is guaranteed. It is also
evident that the US occupation cannot avoid accountability by trying to
switch responsibility to Iraq’s neighbors. A pact of non-aggression,
development and cooperation between a liberated Iraq and its immediate
neighbors is the obvious means by which to achieve this stability. [4] In
its median geopolitical position, and given its natural resources, a
liberated, peaceful and democratic Iraq is central to the welfare and
development of its neighbors. All of Iraq’s neighbors should recognize
that stability in Iraq serves their own interests and commit to not
interfering in its internal affairs.

If the international community and the United States are interested in
peace, stability and democracy in Iraq they should accept that only the
Iraqi resistance ­ armed, civil and political ­ can achieve these by
securing the interests of the Iraqi people. The first demand of the Iraqi
resistance is the unconditional withdrawal of all foreign forces
illegally occupying Iraq ­ including private contractors ­ and disbanding
all armed forces established by the occupation.

The Iraqi anti-occupation movement ­ in all its expressions ­ in
defending the Iraqi people is the only force empowered to ensure
democracy in Iraq. Across the spectrum of this movement it is agreed that
upon US withdrawal a temporary administrative government would be charged
with two tasks: preparing the ground for democratic elections and
reconstituting the national army. Upon completion of these tasks the
administrative government would disband, leaving decisions regarding
reparations, development and reconstruction to a sovereign and freely
elected Iraqi government in a state of all its citizens without
religious, ethnic, confessional or gender discrimination.

All laws, contracts, treaties and agreements signed under occupation are
unequivocally null and void. According to international law and the will
of the Iraqi people, total sovereignty of Iraqi oil and all natural,
cultural and material resources rests in the hands of the Iraqi people,
in all its generations, past, present and future. Across the spectrum of
the Iraqi anti-occupation movement all agree that Iraq should sell its
oil on the international market to all states not at war with Iraq, and
in line with Iraq’s obligations as a member of OPEC.

The 2003 US invasion was and remains illegal and the law of state
responsibility demands that states refuse to recognize the consequences
of illegal state acts. [5] State responsability also includes a duty to
restore. Compensation should be paid by all state and non-state actors
that profited from the destruction and plundering of Iraq.

The Iraqi people are longing for long-term peace. On the basis of the
2005 Istanbul conclusions of the World Tribunal on Iraq [6], and in
recognition of the tremendous suffering of the aggressed Iraqi people,
the signatories to this declaration endorse the abovementioned principles
for peace, stability and democracy in Iraq.

The sovereignty of Iraq rests in the hands of its people in resistance.
Peace in Iraq is simple to attain: unconditional US withdrawal and
recognition of the Iraqi resistance that by definition represents the
will of the Iraqi people.

We appeal to all peace loving people in the world to work to support the
Iraqi people and its resistance. The future of peace, democracy and
progress in Iraq, the region and the world depends on this.

Members of the International Anti-Occupation Network [7]

Abdul Ilah Albayaty, member of the BRussells Tribunal Executive
Committee,
www.brusselstribunal.org,
France - Iraq

Hana Al Bayaty, Coordinator of the Iraqi International Initiative
on refugees, www.3iii.org, France -
Egypt

Dirk Adriaensens, member of the BRussells Tribunal Executive
Committee,
www.brusselstribunal.org,
Belgium

John Catalinotto, International Action Center,
www.iacenter.org, USA

Ian Douglas, Coordinator of the International Initiative to
Prosecute US Genocide in Iraq,
www.USgenocide.org, UK -
Egypt

Max Fuller, Author of For Iraq, the Salvador Option Becomes
Reality and Crying Wolf, death squads in Iraq -

www.cryingwolf.deconstructingiraq.org.uk, UK

Paola Manduca, Scientist, New Weapons Committee,
www.newweapons.org,
Italy

Sigyn Meder, member of the Iraq Solidarity Association in
Stockholm,
www.iraksolidaritet.se,
Sweden

Cristina Meneses, member of the Portuguese session of the World
Tribunal on Iraq,

www.tribunaliraque.info/pagina/inicio.html, Portugal

Mike Powers, member of the Iraq Solidarity Association in
Stockholm,
www.iraksolidaritet.se,
Sweden

Manuel Raposo, member of the Portuguese session of the World
Tribunal on Iraq,

www.tribunaliraque.info/pagina/inicio.html, Portugal

Manuel Talens, writer, member of Cubadebate, Rebelión and
Tlaxcala, Spain

Paloma Valverde, member of the Spanish Campaign Against the
Occupation and for the Sovereignty of Iraq (CEOSI),
www.nodo50.org/iraq/,

www.iraqsolidaridad.org, Spain

27 August 2008

Le Feyt, France

Notes

[1] The right to self-determination, national independence,
territorial integrity, national unity, and sovereignty without external
interference has been affirmed numerous times by a number of UN bodies,
including the UN Security Council, UN General Assembly, UN Commission on
Human Rights, the International Law Commission and the International
Court of Justice. The principle of self-determination provides that where
forcible action has been taken to suppress this right, force may be used
in order to counter this and achieve self-determination.

The Commission on Human Rights has routinely reaffirmed the legitimacy of
struggling against occupation by all available means, including armed
struggle (CHR Resolution No. 3 XXXV, 21 February 1979 and CHR Resolution
No. 1989/19, 6 March 1989). Explicitly, UN General Assembly Resolution

37/43, adopted 3 December 1982: “Reaffirms the legitimacy of the
struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national
unity and liberation from colonial and foreign domination and foreign
occupation by all available means, including armed struggle.” (See also
UN General Assembly Resolutions
1514,
3070
,

3103,
3246
,

3328,

3382,

3421,

3481,

31/91,
32/42
and
32/154
). 

[2] Article 1(4) of the
1st Additional
Protocol to the Geneva Conventions, 1977, considers
self-determination struggles as international armed conflict situations.
The Geneva Declaration on
Terrorism states: “As repeatedly recognized by the United Nations
General Assembly, peoples who are fighting against colonial domination
and alien occupation and against racist regimes in the exercise of their
right of self-determination have the right to use force to accomplish
their objectives within the framework of international humanitarian law.
Such lawful uses of force must not be confused with acts of international
terrorism.”

[3] National liberation movements are recognized as the consequence of
the right of self-determination. In the exercise of their right to
self-determination, peoples under colonial and alien domination have the
right “to struggle … and to seek and receive support, in accordance with
the principles of the Charter” and in conformity with the
Declaration on
Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and
Co-operation among States. It is in these terms that Article 7 of the
Definition
of Aggression (General Assembly Resolution
3314
(XXIX) of 14 December 1974) recognizes the legitimacy of the struggle of
peoples under colonial or alien domination. Recognition by the UN of the
legitimacy of the struggle of peoples under colonial and alien domination
or occupation is in line with the general prohibition of the use of force
enshrined in the UN Charter as a state that forcibly subjugates a people
to colonial or alien domination is committing an unlawful act as defined
by international law, and the subject people, in the exercise of its
inherent right of self-defence, may fight to defend and attain its right
to self-determination. 

[4] The
Declaration on
Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and
Co-operation among States (General Assembly Resolution
2625 (XXV))
cites the principle that, “States shall refrain in their international
relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial
integrity or political independence of any State, or in any other manner
inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations.” Individually and
collectively, Iraq and its neighbors would commit to refrain from the use
of force or threat of the use of force, facilitating the use of force or
threat of use of force by other actors, and refraining from all forms of
interference in the affairs of other states. Individually and
collectively, Iraq and its neighbors would also commit to cooperation and
development on the basis of negotiation, arbitrage and mutual
advantage.

[5] Article 41(2) of the United Nations International Law Commission’s

Draft Articles on State Responsibility, representing the rule of
customary international law (adopted in UN General Assembly Resolution

56/83 of 28 January 2002, “Responsibility of States for
Internationally Wrongful Acts”), prevents states from benefiting from
their own illegal acts: “No State shall recognize as lawful a situation
created by a serious breach [of an obligation arising under a peremptory
norm of general international law]”; Section III(e), UN General Assembly
Resolution

36/103 of 14 December 1962, “Declaration on the Inadmissibility of
Intervention and Interference in the Internal Affairs of
States”.

[6]

Declaration of the Jury of Conscience, World Tribunal on Iraq,
Istanbul, 23-27 June 2005.

[7] The International
Anti-occupation Network is a coalition of groups that stand in
solidarity with the Iraqi people and for Iraqi sovereignty and against
the US-led occupation of Iraq. It was established in April 2006 at the
Madrid International Seminar on the Assassination of Iraqi Academics and
Health Professionals, the final resolution of which can be read

here. 

Please circulate this statement widely

For individual and organizational endorsements, contact: 

http://www.tlaxcala.es/detail_campagne.asp?lg=en&ref_campagne=5
*     *     *

International figures who join us in our commitment to a true end to
the occupation and to a lasting, sustainable peace in Iraq

Ramsey Clark, Former U.S. Attorney General, international human
rights activist, founder of the International Action Center - USA
 
Cynthia McKinney, Green Party US Presidential Candidate,
www.runcynthiarun.org -
USA
 
Denis Halliday, Former UN Assistant Secretary General & United
Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq 1997-98 - Ireland
 
François Houtart, Director of the Tricontinental Center (Cetri),
spiritual father and member of the International Committee of the World
Social Forum of Porto Alegre, Executive Secretary of the Alternative
World Forum, President of the International League for rights and
liberation of people and president of the BRussells Tribunal -
Belgium
 
Socorro Gomes, Chairwoman of WPC - World Peace Council and of
Cebrapaz - Brazilian Center of Solidarity with Peoples and Struggle for
Peace
 
José Francisco Gallardo Rodríguez, General Major and PhD. in
Public Administration - Mexico
 
Manik Mukherjee, Deputy, International Affairs, Socialist Unity
Center of India, General Secretary, International Anti-imperialist and
People’s Solidarity Coordinating Committee - India
 
Eduardo Galeano, Essayist, journalist, historian, and activist -
Uruguay
 
Harold Pinter, Author, Nobel Prize in Literature 2005 - UK
 
James Petras, Author - USA
 
Jan Myrdal, Author - Sweden
 
Michael Parenti, Author - USA
 
Peter Curman, Author - Sweden
 
Rosa Regàs, Author - Spain
 
Santiago Alba Rico, Author, philosopher, member of
www.rebelion.org, Spain –
Tunisia
 
William Blum, Author, USA
 
Issam Chalabi, Former Iraqi Oil Minister, Iraq/Jordan
 
Dr. Omar Al Kubaisy, Senior iraqi cardiologist, anti occupation
politician and activist on iraq health & medical situation
 
Dr. Saeed H. Hasan, Former Iraqi Permanent Representative to the
United Nations - Iraq
 
Dr. Saadallah Al-Fathi, Former head of the Energy Studies
Department at OPEC - Iraq
 
Salah Omar Al Ali, Ex iraqi minister/ex Iraq’s ambassador to
UN
 
Faruq Ziada, Former Iraqi Ambassador
 
Majid Al Samarai, Former Iraqi ambassador
 
Wajdi A. Mardan, Writer and Iraqi Diplomat
 
Naji Haraj, former Iraqi diplomat, human rights activist
 
Hassan T. Walli Aydinli, President of the Committee for the
Defence of the Iraqi Turkmens’ Rights – Belgium-Iraq
 
Sabah Al-Mukhtar, President of the Arab Lawyers Association - Iraq
/ UK
 
Mohammed Younis Alobaidi, Oil Expert, Petroleum Consultancy Group
(PCG) Board Member
 
Prof. Dr. Zuhair Al Sharook, Former President of Mosul University,
Iraq
 
Dr. Abdul Razaq M. Al Dulaimi, Dean of college of communication in
Baghdad before the invasion
 
Mohammed Aref, Science writer - Iraq / UK
 
Muhamad Tareq Al-Deraji, Director of Monitoring net of human
rights in Iraq - President of CCERF - Fallujah
 
Dr. Mousa Al-Hussaini, Iraqi Writer
 
Buthaina al Nasiri, Author and activist, iraq-egypt
 
Dr. Souad Naji Al-Azzawi, Asst. Prof. Env. Eng. - University of
Baghdad - Iraq
 
Mundher Al-Adhami, Research Fellow at Kings College London - Iraq
/ UK
 
Nermeen Al-Mufti, Former co-director of Occupation Watch -
Journalist - Iraq
 
Salam Musafir, Iraqi author and journalist based in Russia
 
Wafaa’ Al-Natheema, Independent journalist, activist, founder of
the Institute of Near Eastern & African Studies (INEAS), filmmaker,
author of “Untamed Nostalgia - Wild Poems,”
http://zennobia.blogspot.com
 
Hisham Bustani, Writer and Activist, Secretary - Socialist Thought
Forum, Jordan
 
Nada Kassass, Activist, Egypt
 
Dr Sahera Al Abta, Academic,Doctor in biology,Faculty of
Sience,Iraq/Amman
 
Sabah Al-Khozai, Academic & Politician
 
Dr. Mahmoud Khalid Almsafir, Ass. Prof. International Economics,
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
 
Ghali Hassan, Independent writer living in Syndey, Australia
 
Yasar Mohammed Salman Hasan, Computer science and business
management - UK
 
Abdul Wahab Hamid Rashid, Iraq/Sweden
 
Asma Darwish Al-Haidari, Economist and Activist – Amman
 
Dr. Curtis F.J. Doebbler, International Human Rights Lawyer -
USA
 
Karen Parker, Attorney, Association of Humanitarian Lawyers,
partners of the BRussells Tribunal - USA
 
Niloufer Bhagwat, Vice President of Indian Lawyers Association -
Mumbai / India
 
Amy Bartholomew, Law professor - Canada
 
Jennifer Van Bergen, Journalist, author writing about civil
liberties, human rights and international law, law lecturer at the
Anglo-American University in Prague
 
Ana Esther Ceceña, Researcher/professor in geopolitics, National
Autonomous University of México, Director of the Geopolitics
Latinamerican Observatory – Mexico
 
Ángel Guerra Cabrera, Journalist and professor - Cuba
 
April Hurley, MD, Iraq Peace Team, Baghdad 2003 – California,
USA
 
Azildin Bin Hussain Al Qutamil, Arab Avant Guard-blog - Tunis
 
Dr. Bert De Belder, Coordinator Intal  & Medical Aid For
The Third World - Belgium
 
Carlos Fazio, Journalist and academic - Mexico
 
Carlos Taibo, Professor of Political Sciences, Madrid Autonomous
University - Spain
 
Carmen Bohorquez, Philosopher, Coordinator of the network of
networks In Defense of Humanity – Venezuela
 
Dr. Chandra Muzaffar, President of JUST International -
Malaysia
 
Claudio Moffa, Professor of History - Italy
 
Corinne Kumar, Secretary General of El Taller International -
Tunesia / India
 
Dahr Jamail, Independent journalist, author: Beyond the Green
Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq -
USA
 
David Miller, Professor of Sociology at Strathclyde University,
co-founder of Spinwatch - UK
 
Dirk Tuypens, Actor - Belgium
 
Elias Davidsson, Composer, international law scholar and activist
for 9/11 truth – Germany
 
Eric Goeman, Coordinator ATTAC - Belgium
 
Fausto Giudice, Writer, translator, activist, member of Tlaxcala –
Italy/France
 
Felicity Arbuthnot, Journalist - UK
 
Frank Vercruyssen, Actor, TG Stan - Belgium
 
Frantz Mendes, President United Steel Workers Local 8751 -
USA
 
Dr. Gideon Polya, Scientist, author of Body Count. Global
avoidable mortality since 1950 -

http://mwcnews.net/Gideon-Polya, Australia
 
Gie van den Berghe, Professor University of Ghent - Belgium
 
Gilad Atzmon, Musician, writer, pro-Palestinian activist – UK
 
Gilberto López y Rivas, Anthropologist - Mexico
 
Prof. Hedvig Ekerwald, Dept of Sociology, Uppsala University -
Sweden
 
Prof. Em. Herman De Ley, Em. Prof. Ghent University, Ex-director
of Centre for Islam in Europe - Belgium
 
Isaac Rosa, Writer - Spain
 
James E. Jennings, PH.D., President, Conscience International,
Inc., a humanitarian aid and human rights organization working primarily
in the Middle East; and Executive Director, US Academics for Peace, a
group of university professors dedicated to dialogue among civilizations
- USA
 
Jean Pestieau,  Professor Emeritus, Catholic Univercity of
Louvain (UCL), Belgium
 
Joachim Guilliard, Journalist, Anti-war movement - Germany
 
John Saxe-Fernández, Professor of political science, National
Autonomous University - México
 
Jos Hennes, Publisher EPO - Edition House - Belgium
 
José Reinaldo Carvalho, Journalist, politologue, Relations
Internationales, Cebrapaz -  Centre Brésilien Pour la Solidarité
avec les Peuples et la Lutte pour la Paix - Brazil
 
Kris Smet, Former Journalist - Belgium
 
Larry Holmes, Troops Out Now Coalition - USA
 
LeiLani Dowell, Fight Imperialism, Stand Together - USA
 
Prof. Dr. Lieven De Cauter, Philosopher, K.U. Leuven / Rits,
initiator of the BRussells Tribunal - Belgium
 
Lolo Rico, Screenwriter - Spain
 
Ludo De Brabander, Vrede, Peace Organisation - Belgium
 
Luz Gómez García, Lecturer. Universidad Autonoma de Madrid -
Spain
 
Manlio Dinucci, Journalist Il Manifesto - Italy
 
Marc Vandepitte, Philosopher - Belgium
 
Maria McGavigan, Institute for Marxist Studies, Brussels
 
Dr Mario Novelli, Lecturer in International Development,
University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
 
Maruja Torres, Writer and journalist - Spain
 
Mary Rizzo, Writer, translator, pro-Palestinian activist, member
of Tlaxcala - USA/Italy
 
Mathias Cederholm, Historian University of Lund, member in the
Iraq Committe in Malmö, Sweden
 
Merry Fitzgerald, Europe-Turkmens of Iraq Friendships –
Belgium    

http://www.turkmenfriendship.blogspot.com/
 
Michel Chossudovsky, Economics professor and director, Centre for
Research on Globalization (CRG) - Canada
 
Michel Collon, Author, journalist - Belgium
 
Miguel Álvarez Gándara, member of SERAPAZ,
http://www.serapaz.org.mx/ -
Mexico
 
Dr. Nayar López Castellanos, National Autonomous University of
México – Mexico
 
Pascual Serrano, Journalist, member of
www.rebelion.org - Spain
 
Paul Vanden Bavière, Former journalist De Standaard, publicist and
editor of webzine Uitpers - Belgium
 
Pedro Monzón, Professor, Coordinator of the Cuban Chapter In
Defense of Humanity - Cuba
 
Dr. Pol De Vos, Public Health Researcher - Peace movement,
Belgium
 
René Naba, Journalist, writer - France
 
Robin Eastman-Abaya, Physician and human rights activist -
USA
 
Prof. Rudi Laermans, Sociologist, Catholic University of Leuven -
Belgium
 
Sara Flounders, Co-director of the International Action
Center
 
Sarah Meyer, Independent researcher living in Sussex - UK
 
Saul Landau, Scholar, author, commentator, and filmmaker on
foreign and domestic policy issues, fellow of the Institute for Policy
Studies – USA.
 
Sköld Peter Matthis, Ophthalmologist - Sweden
 
Stephan Galon, ABVV Trade-Union Secretary / Permanent Syndical
Centrale Générale FGTB - Belgium
 
Stéphane Lathion, Swiss scholar (Fribourg University) - President
of the GRIS (Research Group on Islam in Switzerland).
 
Stephen Eric Bronner, Professor of political science, Rutgers
University - USA
 
Stevan Kirschbaum, Chair Grievance Committee United Steel Workers
8751 - USA
 
Steve Gillis, Vice President, United Steel Workers Local 8751 -
USA
 
Teresa Gutierrez, May 1st Coalition for Immigrant and Worker
Rights Co-Coordinator and Deputy Secretary General International Migrant
Alliance (organizations for ID only) - USA
 
Dr. Thomas M. Fasy, MD PhD, Clinical Associate Professor, Mount
Sinai School of Medicine – USA
 
Víctor Flores Olea, Writer and political scientist -
Mexico

Endorsing organizations

All India Anti-imperialist Forum - India
 
BRussells Tribunal - Belgium
 
CEOSI - Spain
 
Conscience International - USA
 
El Taller International - Tunesia
 
INTAL - Belgium
 
International Action Center - USA
 
International Anti-imperialist and People’s Solidarity Coordinating
Committee
 
The Iraq Solidarity Association in Stockholm (IrakSolidaritet) -
Sweden
 
Medical Aid For The Third World - Belgium
 
Muslim Peacemaker Teams - Iraq
 
Palestine Think Tank (Free Minds for a Free Palestine)
 
Tlaxcala, The Translators’ (Global) Network for Linguistic
Diversity
 
US Academics for Peace - USA
 
World Courts of Women  

We encourage the international peace movement, civil society and
politicians to follow their example! Please sign!

http://www.tlaxcala.es/detail_campagne2.asp?ref_campagne=5&lg=en