Call for resolution

The Israeli Government's collective punishment of the civilian populations of the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Lebanon is inhumane and in contravention of international law. It has provoked an alarming escalation in violence, leading to unacceptable numbers of civilian casualties, causing a humanitarian crisis and threatening to plunge the region into long-term conflict.

The UK must press for immediate enforcement of all parties' obligations under the Geneva Conventions, the United Nations' Charter and Security Council resolutions 242, 338 and 1,559. But rather than uphold these resolutions, the UK has so far underwritten their violation.

We call on the Government to support a Security Council resolution demanding an immediate and unconditional ceasefire; to demand the release of prisoners on all sides held in violation of international law; to apply pressure through the UN for Israel to respect the UN resolutions that require its withdrawal from all the territories it has illegally occupied since 1967; to apply pressure on Israel to end its blockade of the Occupied Territories and to restore Palestinian taxes to the Palestinian Authority; and to work immediately for the restoration of European Union aid to the Palestinian Authority.

Nicola Pratt, Nadje Al-Ali, Patricia Duncker and 103 other academics