5 March 2009

HIS EXCELLENCY KARCHAVA ALEXANDER ALEXEEVICH
THE AMBASSADOR OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
263, Jalan Ampang
50450 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia

Dear Sir,

APPEAL FOR CONCRETE AND SINCERE MEASURES LEADING TO THE SPEEDY CREATION OF A FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATE OF PALESTINE

On behalf of COMPLETE, we write in with a sense of anger, grief, desperation, helplessness and frustration by the recent events and current impasse in Gaza, but with the hope and determination that the world has finally awakened to the realization that a just and comprehensive resolution of the Palestinian tragedy is urgently required.

COMPLETE stands for COALITION OF MALAYSIAN NGOs AGAINST PERSECUTION OF PALESTINIANS, a coalition of more than 100 NGOs that cuts across racial, religious and political lines in Malaysia. We are not aligned with any Palestinian political faction, preferring to deal with the Palestinians as a united people. We intend to work closely with foreign NGOs with similar objectives, and together as a worldwide united front of NGOs, act as an effective pressure group to governments, pushing for a speedy creation of a free and independent state of Palestine.

The current Gaza crisis is the latest in the history of the Palestinian tragedy which started 60 years ago with the forced creation of the state of Israel. The Palestinians have since been displaced, made stateless, humiliated, dehumanized, terrorized and massacred. This gross injustice to the Palestinian people, the majority of whom are Muslims, is probably the single most important reason for the Middle East Crisis, and the rise of ‘Islamic’ terrorism around the world.

The Palestinian tragedy is a humanitarian tragedy of monstrous proportions in terms of the scale of human suffering and duration. The international community must make a highly concerted effort to ensure a just and comprehensive resolution in the near future or face even greater violence and instability in the Middle East in particular and the world in general.

Israel’s recent barbaric invasion of Gaza with the deaths of more than 1300 Palestinians, 40% of whom were innocent children and women, and the intentional destruction of the infrastructure including hospitals, schools, police stations, mosques and even UN centres, is unbelievable, unacceptable, immoral and without any sense of human decency. Its continued arrogance and intransigence in not abiding with numerous UN Security Council resolutions and in ignoring numerous UN General Assembly resolutions since 1948 is an affront to the international community.

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APPEAL FOR CONCRETE AND SINCERE MEASURES LEADING TO THE SPEEDY CREATION OF A FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATE OF PALESTINE

Russia as a major power and as part of the quartet, has in the past been instrumental in seeking a solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. However that peace initiative fell apart and the recent Israeli aggression was a culmination of that failure. We ask the government of Russia to again exert its diplomatic weight to lead the international community to honestly seek a just and speedy political solution to this conflict, end Israeli occupation, and restore the dignity of the Palestinian people and their right to self determination in line with past UN resolutions.

For this political solution to succeed and endure, we believe Israel needs to be brought to the negotiating table with the Palestinian leadership chosen democratically by its people.

Meanwhile we implore Russia to urge both parties to end hostilities and compel Israel to act within the bounds of international law and discharge its obligations as an occupying power. Failure to find a lasting and just political settlement to this conflict will not only prolong the pain and suffering of the Palestinian people, it will also prolong the peace and security problems that have been plaguing our world.

Thank you.

Yours faithfully,

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ADNAN MOHD TAHIR, CHAIRMAN DR MAZENI ALWI, CHAIRMAN
On behalf of COMPLETE Government Relations Committee