21 July 2006

PRESS RELEASE

NOBEL PEACE LAUREATE CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE ISRAELI CEASEFIRE
AND ISRAEL TO ENTER PEACE TALKS WITH PRESIDENT ABBAS AND PALESTINIAN POLITICAL REPRESENTATIVES

Speaking from Belfast today, Mairead Corrigan Maguire said ‘I join my voice with millions of people around the world, calling on Israel to cease immediately its military assault on the people of Lebanon, and to enter talks with Palestinian representatives on an equitable and just resolution to the conflict with Palestine. The Israeli  occupation, and reoccupation of Gaza,  the building of an apartheid wall, the  continuing administrative detention of hundreds of Palestinian citizens  the collective punishment of the Palestinian people, and the Israeli longtime refusal to enter into serious dialogue with Palestinian Reps. to find a peaceful solution,   is at the root of the ongoing violence against the people of Israel.  Where hope of a peaceful solution is not offered by the Israeli Government, despair and violence increases.

However, Israeli State violence,  will not be solved by more violence, and I therefore
Call on Hezbollah and Hamas, or whoever holds them, to release at once the captured Israeli soldiers, held in violation of international law, and to cease immediately their violence and rocket attacks on the people of Israel, and use nonviolence resistance in their rightful demand for justice for the Palestinian people.

Every act of violence, State or paramilitary,  is injustice perpetrated upon people, and the current Israeli war machine, launched against Lebanon people and their country, where many civilians are injured and killed, and more than 500,000 people, have been displaced, is a crime against humanity and breaks many International Laws.  I add my voice to the International community, to  call upon the Israeli Government and Military to stop this military assault on Lebanon immediately and remember their humanity.   There will not be a military solution to the Middle East problems, they can only be solved through dialogue and negotiations and the International Community, must insist that Israel abide by International Law and enter serious negotiations with all parties to the conflict.  War and violence is not an option in this the 21st century, and an interdependent, interconnected world, and Israel as part of the International community, must abide by moral and legal standards of behavior.