With the joint declaration signed by all parties and independent members of the Balıkesir Metropolitan Municipality Council, the atrocities committed by Israel in Palestine were condemned.
Balıkesir Metropolitan Municipality Council's 2nd Meeting of October was held under the chairmanship of Deputy Mayor Ramazan Bahçavan. Before the Council meeting, a joint declaration was read on behalf of all parties and independent members condemning the atrocities committed by Israel in Palestine. The statements in the declaration are as follows:
"The high number of civilian casualties in the conflicts in Palestine and Israel, the targeting of civilian infrastructure and the inability of civilians to meet even their most basic needs hurt the conscience. The potential for the crisis to spread to other regions seriously threatens regional security and stability. It is a requirement of law, conscience and humanity to protect civilians under all circumstances and to avoid practices that constitute collective punishment.
"ILLEGAL OCCUPATION CONTINUES FOR 56 YEARS"
We call on all parties to exercise restraint and common sense within the framework of our vision of peace-security-stability in order to prevent irreparable consequences of these tensions. Recent events have once again demonstrated that the Palestinian-Israeli issue, which has caused untold distress, despair and suffering for a long time, must now be brought to a just, comprehensive and lasting solution through negotiations on the basis of the established United Nations parameters for a two-state solution. The solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict does not lie in managing the results, but in eliminating the root causes of the problems. The recent events are the result of 56 years of illegal occupation and related policies. The interruption of food, energy and humanitarian aid, the indiscriminate shelling of civilian settlements and hospitals is a clear and grave violation of international law.
"PALASTINE IS UNDER AN UNPRECEDENTED SIEGE"
The Palestinian people, whose land, life and future hopes have been taken away from them, are today under a new and unprecedented siege. The interruption of food, energy and humanitarian aid to Gaza, which is home to two million people and has already turned into an open-air prison after 16 years of blockade, and the targetless shelling of civilian settlements is a clear and grave violation of international law. It is imperative that the ongoing occupation of the Palestinian territories ends as soon as possible and a just peace is reached. The chain of violations and double-standard practices, which started with the occupation, continued with property seizures by illegal settlers, attacks and provocations that disregard the status of holy places, continue to erode the vision of a solution based on two states.
"START NEGOTIATIONS FOR LASTING PEACE"
In this respect, it is imperative to end the ongoing occupation of the Palestinian territories as soon as possible and to achieve a just peace. The entire international community, in particular the United Nations Security Council, must take responsibility for guiding the parties to a just settlement on the basis of the two-state solution vision without further delay. Lasting peace is possible with an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital on the basis of 1967 borders. We reiterate unequivocally that lasting peace in the Middle East is only possible through a just settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and that this can only be possible through the establishment of an independent, sovereign and geographically integrated Palestinian State based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. We invite the Palestinians to start negotiations for a lasting peace. We condemn the collective punishment methods and all attacks directly targeting civilians, which deepen the unending humanitarian tragedy in Gaza, and we call on Palestine and Israel to start negotiations for a lasting peace without further delay in order to reach a just and lasting solution on the basis of two states.
"OBSTRUCTION OF HUMANITARIAN AID MUST STOP"
Targeting of civilians and obstruction of humanitarian aid must stop. As all political parties and members of the Balıkesir Metropolitan Municipality Council, on the basis of the above-mentioned views, we expect the parties to stop escalating the conflicts in Palestine and Israel and to stop targeting civilians. We condemn in the strongest terms the collective punishment methods that deepen the unending humanitarian tragedy in Gaza and these attacks, which are crimes against humanity and directly target civilians, and we invite Palestine and Israel to start negotiations for a lasting peace without further delay in order to reach a just and lasting solution on the basis of two states."
