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A critical and more than timely call

Whilst the Arab world is in turmoil and Israel continues it's relentless action against its own Arab population, the expansion in settlements and oppressing Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza - not to speak of all the hype and PR already in place for the visit for the Israeli PM to Washington shortly - there comes an important call from some 60 Israeli intellectuals which ought not be ignored. What are they going to label these people? Self-hating Jews? Anti-Zionists?

"A declaration signed by dozens of prominent Israeli academics, writers and artists welcoming a Palestinian state on the basis of Israel’s 1967 borders was presented Thursday at the site of Israel’s 1948 proclamation of independence.

As the well-known Israeli actress Hanna Maron, who lost a leg in a Palestinian attack, read out the declaration outside Tel Aviv’s Independence Hall, protesters heckled the gathering, calling the participants traitors.

The declaration, which was issued in expectation of moves to recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations in September, asserts that the end of Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory “is a fundamental condition for the liberation of both peoples, for the fulfillment of the Israeli declaration of independence and for the independence of the State of Israel.”

Echoing the opening of Israel’s declaration of independence, the statement begins: “The land of Israel is the birthplace of the Jewish people, where its identity was shaped. The land of Palestine is the birthplace of the Palestinian people, where its identity was formed.”

The approximately 60 signatories to the document, titled “The Declaration of Independence from the Occupation,” included 17 recipients of the Israel Prize, the country’s highest honor."

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