Nir Barkat: Persona Non Grata

To:  Governor Ritter, Mayor Hickenlooper, and Provost Kvistad

We, the undersigned organizations, groups, and individuals, express our shock and dismay at the decision of the University of Denver, the Joseph Korbel School of International Studies, the office of Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, and the office of Colorado Governor Bill Ritter to invite Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat to speak in Denver. We ask that the hosts rescind the invitation immediately.

Barkat is one of many Israelis now touring the United States in an attempt to counteract the Goldstone Report, which finds credible evidence of Israeli war crimes committed in Gaza during its offensive 10 months ago. We believe that Colorado elected officials are doing a disservice to their constituents when they drag the state into Israel’s public relations efforts, which are irrelevant to Colorado voters.

Inviting Barkat to speak in Denver endorses the discriminatory policies of the state of Israel against the Palestinian residents of Jerusalem. For many months now, the municipality of Jerusalem has waged a systematic campaign to rid the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Palestinian residents. The plight of the Hanoun, Ghawi, and al-Kurd families, evicted from their homes and now living in tents on the ruins of their bulldozed homes, has been described in the press. At least 25 families face similar ruin. The Israeli policy implemented here is part of an ongoing and broader policy, guided by demographic considerations, to ensure that an overwhelming Jewish majority in the city is established. This policy, represented by Barkat, is premised on values that Americans correctly denounce as bigotry. Why should you embrace them, then?

According to international law and numerous UN resolutions, Israel's sovereignty in Jerusalem is illegal and is not recognized by the international community, including the US administration, which keeps almost all embassies to Israel in Tel Aviv. East Jerusalem is declared occupied territory in UN Security Council Resolution 242 and Israel’s claim of sovereignty over West Jerusalem is also called into serious question by international law, which is why Tel Aviv hosts the embassies. The European Union recently reiterated that all of Jerusalem, which U.N. Resolution 181 designated as an "international city," constitutes a "corpus seperatum" or distinct body from the State of Israel.

Barkat’s office perpetuates decades old Israeli policies to ethnically cleanse Jerusalem of its indigenous Palestinian Christian and Muslim population and force a demographic change to preempt any future negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinian.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Nir Barkat: Persona Non Grata Petition to Governor Ritter, Mayor Hickenlooper, and Provost Kvistad was created by Human Rights Groups and written by CPCN Denver (cpcn.denver@gmail.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.