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| Palestinians search for wood to sell or use for cooking amid the rubble
of a building which was destroyed in an Israeli military strike in Gaza
City, Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025 [AP Photo/Yousef Al Zanoun] |
Amid mounting concern about the
remorseless attacks by Israel against the civilian population in Gaza,
which, since October 7, 2023, have reportedly led to the deaths and injuries
of over 227,000 Palestinians and the displacement, in the last two
weeks, of more than 400,000 people, 325 former European Union and Member
State Ambassadors and Senior Officials are calling for urgent action.We
strongly urge the EU to immediately impose targeted sanctions on the
Israeli government and suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement. In
addition, we urge the President of the United Nations General Assembly
and the Chair of the United Nations Security Council to convene
emergency meetings of both bodies to adopt sanctions against Israel for
the multiple violations of international law being perpetrated daily
against the people of Palestine. The United Nations, being the
established global body for peace and security, must live up to its
responsibilities.
We cannot stand idly by, watching
Gaza reduced to rubble and its inhabitants driven into destitution and
starvation. The issue is whether the EU and like-minded nations will
stand up for basic humanity and for the values that underpin the
post-war international order. Action needs to be taken urgently to
preserve life, end the military onslaught in Gaza, secure the return of
all hostages, and move to governance arrangements that allow for a swift
return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza as a necessary step towards
a unified and democratically elected Palestinian government.
We
demand that EU leaders respond urgently to the fact that, in recent
days, the actions of the Israeli army have escalated to another level,
with the bombardment of Gaza City in pursuit of the openly declared
Israeli government policy of clearing the population out of the city and
forcing the displacement of a million and a half people within or even
outside the territory.
In addition, an engineered,
man-made famine is unfolding in Gaza, already affecting 500,000 people.
Severe malnutrition is rife, and more than 130 children have starved to
death, despite the International Court of Justice’s provisional findings
in February 2024 in the case brought against Israel, which required all
States to take action to ensure that adequate humanitarian supplies
reach Gaza. Finally, Israel has blatantly ignored the United Nations
General Assembly Resolution of September 18, 2024 calling for an end to
its illegal occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, instead doubling down
by annexing additional swathes of Palestinian territory.
While
noting the European Commission’s newly announced proposals for limited
measures against Israel, our conviction is that the EU’s institutions
and its Member States must act far more decisively to uphold
international law and protect human rights, notably by suspending the
EU-Israel Association Agreement, ceasing the export and import of arms
and military equipment, banning imports from Israel’s illegal
settlements, restricting access to EU co-financed programmes, and urging
Israel’s other key trade partners, including in the Global South, to
follow suit. They must also impose immediate targeted sanctions on
Israel’s political and military leadership and all those complicit in
and responsible for war crimes, ensuring accountability.
In addition, we urge the 13 EU
Member States that have not yet done so to join both the 147 UN Member
States who have already recognised the State of Palestine, and those who
have announced they will do so at the ongoing United Nations General
Assembly meeting, including France, Belgium, Malta, the United Kingdom,
Canada, and Australia. Furthermore, the EU must demonstrate political
and diplomatic leadership within all UN bodies and in partnerships with
the Global South, Arab States and regional powers, to pressure Israel
into compliance with its international obligations.
It
must also support and strengthen the Global Alliance for the
Implementation of the Two-State Solution, the key platform for a
sustainable political solution allowing Palestinians and Israelis to
coexist in peace and security, and demand that the US rescind decisions
preventing official representatives of Palestine and the UN from
engaging in dialogue at the United Nations General Assembly.
The
heinous attacks of 7 October 2023 by Hamas and others against Israeli
citizens, along with the continuing detention of hostages, can never
justify the retribution wreaked on Gaza, which is becoming the graveyard
of international law and universal human rights. Reckless military
assaults of the type committed by Israel on the sovereign territory of
Qatar, a key player in ceasefire talks, together with the lack of
effective action, will condemn generations of both Palestinians and
Israelis to perpetual suffering and continue to destabilise the region
and beyond. It is incumbent on all of us, as global citizens, to demand
from our leaders nothing less than the full application of international
law. The time to act is now.
The full list of signatories of this letter can be viewed here. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PtJjleD98TAgNh2RKNeqilQBLGks1zOF/view
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/9/17/as-its-former-ambassadors-we-urge-the-eu-to-sanction-israel-now
