15.000 Intellectuals Join Accusing Israel

In one of the most strongly worded condemnations of Israel's attacks on Lebanon and Palestine coming out of Turkey, seven of the country's leading intellectuals have united to issue a public declaration charging the leaders of Israel, the United States and Britain of "committing crimes against humanity".

Titled "We Accuse", the public indictment written by Perihan Magden, Ayse Gul Altinay, Latife Tekin, Zeynep Caglayan Gambetti, Yildirim Turker, Koray Caliskan and Taha Parla has been signed by more than 15,500 supporters in a few days.

The indictment is online at www.weaccuse.net both in Turkish and in English and is open for new signatures until August 15^th.

Stating that the USA, Britain and Israel were responsible for "imperialist, colonialist and aggressive policies" the declaration said its leaders had collectively committed offences ranging from mass destruction warfare to premeditated massacre, the deliberate killing of children and civilians. The declaration read as follows:

We accuse:

* G.W. Bush, T. Blair, and E. Olmert, the chief executives of the imperialist, colonialist, belligerent policies and actions of the US-British-Israeli coalition,

* of perpetrating the composite crimes of war of annihilation, occupation, and the premeditated mass murder of children and civilians in Palestine and Lebanon,

* following their atrocities in Afghanistan and Iraq and foreboding the same in Syria and Iran,

* sinking into utter barbarity in transgression of all universal norms of human morality.

The following are also responsible:

* All government employees and agents, advisors, civil and military functionaries who partake in collective and individual responsibility in these states;

* the legislative and judicial branches that have not curbed the criminal activities of their governments as they violate basic human rights, most significantly the right to live, and as they trample international legal norms and commit crimes against humanity;

* universities, media, intellectuals, workers and citizens who do not restrain and sanction their governments through domestic democratic channels;

* UNITED NATIONS and other national and international bodies that actively or passively support, aid and abet this illegality, crude force, and aggression --all bear responsibility for the catastrophe that is taking place.

We demand:

* An immediate cessation of this horror,

* the due trial, in international tribunals, as well as in the courts of conscience and history,

* of, above all, Bush, Blair, and Olmert as perpetrators of crimes against humanity,

* of their respective government agents and supporters,

* of the chief executives and state personnel in all countries that have been accomplices to these crimes against humanity,

* and their removal from office by the lawful and democratic initiatives of their respective citizenry.

And we declare:

* We stand at a critical juncture in human history.

* These aggressive, colonialist, exploitative, and militarist practices are negating the achievements of humanity, destroying the basic pillars of international law, and thus, threatening the present and the future of this planet.

* We refuse to submit to this brutal force and be accomplices to its crimes.

* We refuse to give in to the (il)logic of blood-fed economies and lethal war machines.

* We declare that we will continue to struggle for a different world. (II/BA/EK/TK)