ECCP : European
Coordinating Committee of
NGOs on the question of
Brussels (Belgium).
HAY 3 DOCUMENTOS EN
1)
Acta de la última reunión ECCP con las correcciones que se
hicieron a la misma
2)
Carta del ECCP respecto a la próxima reunión que tendrá
lugar el 4 de febrero en Bruselas (incluye agenda del día de dicha reunión)
3)
Carta enviada al ECCP sobre las conclusiones y anotaciones
que tuvieron lugar en la reunión realizada en Viena (6 al 8 enero) respecto a
la preparación del tema de Palestina en el FSE de Atenas.
TEXTO 1 :
Acta
de la última reunión ECCP con las correcciones que se hicieron a la misma.
Correcciones Acta (Campaña un millón de firmas
en toda Europa contra el muro de Palestina).
Brief Overview of the
Campaigns
in every European
Country ***
(...)
The
National Collective for
-
have
re-launched the petition against the Wall and for the suspension of the
EU-Israel Association Agreement (in that framework, they have decided to adopt
the poster of the European Sanctions Campaign)
-
are
working about the issue of the railway project in
-
are
mobilising to ensure an international presence in Bilin
-
are
ready to campaign for the boycott against Caterpillar
The German Coordination Stop the Wall is
organizing an enlarged meeting of representatives of all peace and solidarity
movements in
-
inform
again about the European ICJ+1 Campaign and enhance mobilization
-
remind
of the petition and collection of signatures
-
discuss
measures against the supply of 2 submarines to
-
prepare
a conference envisaged for the second half of 2006
It is hoped that Azmi Bishara, member of
Knesset, will accept an invitation to open the January 29 meeting with a key
note address.
EEDDA is working on the Sanctions Campaign
since September, with the common petition letter. They have received the
support of the General Trade Union of Greek Workers.
IPSC ran
a conference on “Irish divestment from
They are
also running a campaign against military trade with
Next
March, they have
the project to organise a conference aimed at getting motions from Trade
Unions and NGOs.
Action for Peace is working on the
Sanctions Campaign, with the common poster and leaflet. On 3 December, they
organised a public meeting on
politicians, with Palestinian and
Israeli guests. They are also going to have a national Conference on
(…)
Palestina
Ahora, member organisation of the Spanish Solidarity Network against the
Occupation in
MEWANDO
– Basque Country
We
started the campaign by informing and having organizations, trade unions,
political parties, church groups, NGO´s signatures in order to make it easy for
the signatures.
We ended up with these groups backing up the
campaign:
Sindicatos: CCOO, CGT, EHNE, ELA, ELB, ESK, HIRU,
LSB-USO, STEE-EILAS.
NGO´s and
Associations:
Acción Verapaz
Euskadi, Aldea Alternatiba Desarrollo, Asociación Cultural Palestina - Biladi,
Asociación Vasca de Meninas e Meninos da Rua, Asociación Vasco-Árabe,
Ayuda Más, BIGE-EHIGE (Federación de Padres y Madres), Círculo Solidario Euskadi - Euskadiko
Elkarbidea, Coordinadora de ONGD de Euskadi, EGK
(Consejo de
Churches:
Asociación de comunidades Fe y Justicia, Cáritas Diocesana de Bilbao, Comunidades Evangelio y Solidaridad (Seglares Claretianos de Bizkaia), Pastoral Obrera
Political Parties:
Aralar, Batzarre, EHAK, Eusko Alkartasuna,
Ezker Batua, PNV-EAJ, Zutik.
We have had two press conferences.
The first one about the campaign. The second one (since we could not present
the same thing again) about signatures. The first one did not go really
good. The second one did so.
We had
all Political parties within the parliament signing a “Not of law” Proposition
in which they all agreed the terms expressed by the ICJ. In the last
point it says that all the different municipalities along the Basque Country
should sign this proposition (this last point has to be worked since they
are not yet doing so).
We had a concentration (really bad
weather) with not as many people as we were expecting. We had four
seminars with a documentary about the wall in different towns.
On 9 November, we had a SIGNING table in the
middle of the city with two big panels and a 6 X
People
from trade unions, political parties,... took turns to have constant presence.
On the
week of November 29th we had four small conferences in both Deusto and
We have to collect all the signatures and see
at what point we are.
In
NPK is going to launch officially
the Sanctions Campaign in the
Signatures to the European Sanctions Campaign
have already been collected by the Turkish Palestine Solidarity Groups, and directly
addressed to the Israeli Embassy in
Report of highlights of PSC activity since last
meeting (for more information see www.palestinecampaign.org
)
International law conference
This took place on 22 October, and brought
together over 500 people to hear speakers including Dr Mustafa Barghouti, Diana
Buttu, Lea Tsemel, Ronnie Kasrils, Daniel Machover of Hickman and Rose which
brought the legal action against Doron Almog, and many others. We are producing
a publication with edited speeches from those present, together with a briefing
on international law.
We would be happy to provide any support we can
with the planning of the
The Wall Must Fall week of action
Actions took place in many areas around
Parliamentary work
PSC sent a letter to all MPs on the
A public meeting in parliament in
the evening was addressed by MPs Richard Burden, Jeremy Corbyn and Brian Iddon,
Baroness Jenny Tonge and His Excellency Manuel Hassassian, the new Palestinian
General Delegate to the
Motion (petition) against the Wall,
and MPs are being asked to put searching questions in parliament on the British
government’s responsibility under the ICJ and the Fourth Geneva Convention, and
also following up the leaked document for the EU council of ministers on
Actions also took place around the
country on 29 November with students organising protests against the occupation
to mark the UN day for
Boycott day of action
Around 20 PSC groups are organising
actions on 10 December on the boycott of Israeli goods campaign. Plans include
many stalls and the distribution of a specifically designed leaflet, and a car,
bus and bicycle cavalcade in east
Open
This has been launched in
BBC impartiality review submission
The BBC is undertaking an
'impartiality review of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict' (largely, we suspect,
due to Zionist pressure). Although not one of the participants, PSC has sent in
a submission putting forward its perspective of the BBC's coverage. The text
can be found on http://www.palestinecampaign.org/psc_news.asp?d=y&id=60
Trade Unions work
The list of British Trade Unions
affiliated to PSC continues to grow. PSC is organising a Conference in March
2006 with a number of keynote speakers from leading British and overseas Trade Unions (a leaflet
is coming).
War On Want has launched a campaign for sanctions against
the Israeli occupation in the
The European Jews for a Just Peace
(EJJP) are joining the European Campaign for Sanctions against the Israeli
occupation and will convene their next February meeting in Bilin.
In
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TEXTO 2: Carta del ECCP respecto a la próxima reunión
que tendrá lugar el 4 de febrero en Bruselas (incluye agenda del día de dicha
reunión)
ECCP
Dear friends,
Finally (sorry for the delay…), here
attached, you’ll find the proposal of agenda for the next ECCP meeting on 4
February. Your comments, proposals for changes or annexes to be added to
the folder will be welcome until next Wednesday. After that day, I hope you can
understand that it will be a little bit late for me to make it. Idem regarding
any info related to your activities that you would like to share: I’m always
ready to make a report/sort of newsletter about it, provided that you send it
enough time in advance.
I also attach last meeting’s report in
order to make sure, once again, that everybody got it.
Regarding the ECCP statutes &
budget, your membership and subscription, the idea is to have dinner all
together on the previous night, Friday 3 Feb, in order to discuss all those
sensitive issues in a convivial atmosphere!! I will let you know about the
directions to the restaurant in the coming days; we shall meet there by
I would also appreciate to get the names
of the people who need me to book a room/bed for them in Sleep Well Hostel (or
elsewhere) ASAP, if possible before the end of the week.
Finally, following this e-mail, I’m
going to forward
Looking forward to your answers,
comments, reactions, etc.!
Caroline ( ECCP, European
Coordinating Committee of NGOs on the
question of
AGENDA proposal
Meeting place:
(Metro: Sainte Catherine or Yser)
A. Welcoming words
by Pierre Galand, chairman of ECCP, and round table for the presentation of the
participants
B. Reception of
the guests: Leïla Chahid and/or a representative of PNGO and/or of the Israeli
anti-occupation movement TBC
C. Approval of the
minutes of the last meeting (
A.
Update of what is going on in every country
B.
“Where are we” regarding:
-
the website & signatures ?
-
the advocacy strategy ( see annex
2) ?
-
the enlargement process ? Þ towards Trade
Unions, Churches, NGOs, academics, politicians, students unions, etc.
-
the idea of organizing a big event next July ?
we’ll then split into 2 groups
D. Update & Follow up of the Geneva Conference project, 26-28 May 2006 (see annex 3) :
- announcement & promotion
- preparation of the legal background Þ Should we organize a special meeting with lawyers?
- fundraising
- program & content
- logistics
- etc.
PS need for a reporter
E. European Social
Forum: see
-
How to give form to the seminar proposals ?
-
Who wants to take on which task? Which organization
would like to work on which seminar?
-
What about the “Main Event”?
-
What about the Palestinian village?
-
Etc.
PS need for a reporter
Brief report
of the 2 workshops’ conclusions Þ Comments
& Decision
Others
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Texto 3 : Carta enviada al ECCP sobre las conclusiones y anotaciones que tuvieron
lugar en la reunión realizada en Viena (6 al 8 enero) respecto a la preparación
del tema de Palestina en el FSE de Atenas.
ENGLISH
/ FRANÇAIS
In preparation for the discussion of
the ESF in the coming ECCP meeting on
February 4, I would like to send you the
following report of the
Network Meeting which took place during
the Vienna EPA (6-8 January).
However, I would like to emphasize
that this is not the official report as
presented to the EPA Plenary Assembly, as
I was not involved in preparing
that. It is an unofficial summary just
based on my own personal notes.
If any of the others who were present have
comments, corrections or detect
any issues I may have overlooked, please
feel free to contact me so that I
can correct it.
Meanwhile, as time is pressing, I
hope that everyone will begin to think
about how to give form to the proposals
decided upon in order to be able to
discuss it as efficiently as possible
during the ECCP meeting and hopefully
reach some conclusions.
We should also begin to think about
who may be willing to take on which
tasks and which organizations would like
to work on which seminars.
Also, it would be good to decide on
the form which we would like to give to
the 'Main Event' and which speakers would
seem appropriate.
Please bear in mind that it is still not
decided if we will be included in
the anti-war event, or have the space for
an independent
we should consider both options.
And we should also begin to
brainstorm about the creation of the Palestinian
Village.
I look forward to seeing you all again at
the coming meeting!
Warm regards,
(
Personal Notes on
Seminars
There is room for 6 seminars on
As any organization is free to submit seminar
proposals, not just organizations within ECCP or participants in the EPA, it
remains to be seen how many seminars and which themes may be proposed, after
which merging may be necessary.
The 6 seminars agreed upon in Istanbul and
reaffirmed in Vienna
Ø
Settlements
and the Wall
Ø
Political
Prisoners (with a special focus on child prisoners and the situation of women
prisoners)
Ø
Ø
The
Right of Return for the Refugees
Ø
Ø
European
Movements and
‘Main Events’
It has been decided not to hold
plenaries at the Athens ESF but to organize so-called ‘Main Events’. It is not
completely clear if and how these events will be different from plenaries.
However, there was also some confusion as to the place of
A number of other themes are still
under discussion. One of the proposals was to not include
The majority of participants at the
meeting agreed that there should be a ‘
A few proposals as to possible
activities which could be realized in the ‘
* A stand with multi-lingual information
about the Sanctions Campaign.
This could have a double function: on the
one hand collecting signatures and on the other hand seeking contact with
organizations who may be interested in participating in the Campaign (enlargement).
* Video or film projections.
* Build a representation of the Apartheid
Wall (possibly with acts of Palestinians trying to pass through the gates).
* Music and dance
* An exposition of handwork
Further Issues Discussed
* The ECCP Sanctions Campaign should be
present throughout all the activities.
* Seminars alone are not sufficient! We must
seek to promote concrete action, to link the seminars with something practical,
for example the Sanctions Campaign.
* There should also be an emphasis on:
-
Application of International Law
-
Pressure on the EU to address Israeli human rights abuses
-
Pressure on the EU to stop arms trade to and from
* We should appeal to the ‘solidarity fund’
for support in order to ensure a significant Palestinian presence.
Personal comment: It would be good if someone from ECCP could
participate in the decision-making process regarding:
1)
Merging of seminars in order to guarantee that our priorities (hopefully to be
agreed on in the 04/02 ECCP meeting) are taken into consideration, 2)
Assuring
English
1-
2- A palestinian “space” at the ESF for
political and cultural activities, debates, tables for petitions, films
projection, musical concert, contact with media etc...
3- A conference on “European sanctions
campaign against israeli occupation” : political
economic and military sanctions. Which strategies to conduct the campaign and
to implament the international resolutions.
4 -
Many seminars and workshops can be registrated, and will follow the merging
process.
5 –
One final Assembly to reach conclusions and to decide an action plan on
The European coordination on
Next meeting of the ECP: february 4.
Every organisation is invited to
join the meeting. Contact Caroline : eccp@skynet.be
Français
L’Assemblée préparatoire de
Vienne. 6-8 janvier 2006.
Les conclusions de la réunion
du réseau Palestine.
1-