If you know any Israelis please forward this to them. I presume that anyone could sign, though.
On 29 July, Kairos Palestine, the Alternative Tourism Group and the Ecumenical Coalition on Tourism issued an open letter urging the OECD not to hold its annual tourism conference in Jerusalem in October.
The text of the letter may be read here: http://alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/jerusalem/2772-call-to-oecd-dont-hold-tourism-conference-in-jerusalem-
The OECD replied, and the three groups are now issuing a public response (please see below).
The groups particularly invite Israelis to sign the public response below. As the Coordinator of Kairos Palestine noted, “the more Israelis the better!”
If you are interested in signing this response, please send your name (or name of organization) to me at this email address until 8am on Wednesday 15 September. Questions/comments of course most welcome.
Thanks, connie
Dear Mr. Gooch,
Thank you for your letter responding to our expression of opposition to the upcoming OECD Tourism Committee meeting planned to be convened in Jerusalem in October. With respect, let us say that it almost appears like a whitewash as it does not get to the guts of our letter.
As you have been generous enough to welcome further comments, we would like to respond to your arguments in order to reiterate the inappropriateness of this decision.
In your letter you inform us of the context of Israel’s accession to the OECD and we would like to respond:
• Israel is distinct in your list of invited countries for “accession negotiations” (or in fact current members) in its continual failure to comply with international law since 1967 (particularly through the illegal occupation of Palestinian territory); its prosecution of an illegal blockade (an act of war in international law) on the Gaza Strip; and its recent attack on the Gaza Strip which the UN report tabled by Goldstone labeled a war crime.
• Additionally on the accession issue and perhaps more in the OECD’s key area of concern (economics), Israeli data submitted for accession included the economic production statistics from the activities of illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian occupied land. We would also suggest that you cannot overlook the strength of the Israeli economy that results from the highest allocation of American aid of some $3 billion per annum which is purported to be to reward Israel for engagement in peaceful processes with its neighbours but in facts subsidises and enables the 40 year occupation.
In defense of OECD admission of Israel, you claim that the OECD can act as a catalyst to changes in economic, social and environmental policy in member countries. As an example, you suggest the OECD has discussed necessary policy changes regarding the situation of Palestinians with Israeli citizenship and Orthodox Jews within Israel.
• As Israel is an occupying power controlling the lives of the Palestinian people of the West Bank and controlling the lives of the Palestinian people of the Gaza through the blockade, you should also be holding Israel accountable for the more grievous and longstanding suffering of these populations and reinforcing demands that Israel respect international law and end the occupation immediately.
• In fact if you want to influence Israeli policy and behaviour, you do not achieve this by rewarding it with the hosting of a significant meeting some five months from its accession. This is unseemly and will be read as a de facto endorsement of its activities by Israel and others.
In regard to holding the OECD Tourism Committee meeting in Jerusalem, Israel rather than the Paris headquarters:
• We note previous meetings have been held in OECD member countries with longstanding membership. Why hold it in Israel now rather than a longstanding member country or in fact one of the newly acceding members? Surely you can see the political ramifications of this?
• The choice of Jerusalem is not “non-prejudicial” as you claim; it is fact endorsing Israeli control of a city that sits at the heart of a longstanding injustice in the global community. While both Israel and Palestine claim Jerusalem as their respective capitols, it is only Israel that is occupying both and working to dispossess the other claimant. Holding a major international event in such a context is not neutral, it is siding with the occupying power and enabling this dispossession.
We note that you fail to respond to any of our assertions about the role of tourism in supporting and maintaining the illegal occupation of Palestine and the dispossession of the Palestinian people. This is unfortunate because this is a key reason underlying the inappropriateness of holding the OECD Tourism Committee meeting in such a context.
Finally, we reiterate our call to OECD made in our first letter, namely, find a more appropriate venue than Jerusalem for the meeting of the OECD Tourism Committee.
