Today is International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People; a platform and a poignant reminder of the ongoing Palestinian struggle for human rights, peace and self-determination.Called for originally in 1977 by the UN General Assembly as a commemoration of the day the UN adopted the resolution on the partition of Palestine in 1947.
“The resolution on the observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People also encourages Member States to continue to give the widest support and publicity to the observance of the Day of Solidarity." UN official statement reads.
The day reaffirms solidarity with the steadfast people of Palestine and helps keeping the Palestinian cause live and present in the international events and the global conscience,
The UN has organised an exhibit to commemorate the Palestinian Nakba a deeply traumatic event which took place during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war https://www.un.org/en/observances/international-day-of-solidarity-with-the-palestinian-people
During this time more than half of the Palestinian people were expelled from, or fled their homes and became refugees. The Nakba, which means “catastrophe" in Arabic, refers to the mass displacement and dispossession of Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Before the Nakba, Palestine was a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society.
However, the conflict between Arabs and Jews intensified in the 1930s with the increase of Jewish immigration, driven by persecution in Europe, and with the Zionist movement aiming to establish a Jewish state in Palestine. As early as December 1948, the UN General Assembly called for refugee return, property restitution and compensation.and has also said that the Nakba serves as a reminder that close to 6 million Palestinians remain refugees to this day, scattered throughout the region.
Now, 76 years after partition, Israel has violated international law despite countless UN resolutions relating to Palestine, and has slowly attempted to occupy all of Palestinian land while the rights of the Palestinian peoples continue to be denied.
Today, Israel is also waging one of the most violent wars on Palestine in decades,with the aim to ‘eliminate’ Hamas. Israel announced war against Hamas after it launched an attack on Israel on October 7 and killed about 1,200 people. In retaliation Israel has killed at least 20,000 Palestinians in Gaza , the vast majority being women and children. and tens of thousands injured, while homes, schools, hospitals and basic infrastructure across Gaza have been flattened..unprecedented brutal aggression, in which humanity has been slaughtered every day for more than fifty-four days.
The 2.1 million residents of Gaza. a tiny enclave wedged between Egypt, Israel and the Mediterranean Sea . have previously suffered through four previous wars, and this fifth one is the most devastating yet. The grim death count continues to grow. The UN has strongly condemned the killing of civilians and has repeatedly called for "an immediate humanitarian ceasefire" in the densely populated enclave. According to UNICEF, people under the age of 18 — which the organisation classifies as children — make up almost half of the Palestinian population in Gaza. "Gaza is becoming a graveyard for children," UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres has said.
Τhe massacre in Palestine, the brutal and unacceptable bombing of the hospitals, the killing of a child every 10 minutes, are crimes which are committed with the provocative tolerance and support that Israel receives from the USA, the Uk the European Union and the rest of their allies.
The root cause of this situation is the occupation and illegal settlement of the occupied Palestinian territories by Israel and the continuous, daily crimes and the blockades of Gaza that have been committed against the Palestinian people for decades.
The massacre of Gazans, as well as their steadfast resistance to occupation, has generated a global movement in solidarity with Palestine,with millions around the world organising to show they reject this mass murder and challenge the complicity of our governments and institutions in the Israeli war machine and the apartheid regime which powers it. and is on many fronts is trying to end worldwide support by politicians and corporations for Israel, especially in the West.
Although the circumstances of Palestinians have changed over the years, their core demands for liberation and return – and the need for resistance and solidarity to achieve this – have not.The tenacity of Palestinians in struggling for their most basic of rights, and the continued solidarity of people across the world in response, offer a ray of hope that neither alarming rightward drift of Israeli politics nor the bleak geopolitical landscape can diminish. The ongoing challenge for Palestinians, and those engaged in their struggle, this 29 November, is to translate this sentiment of hope into tangible structures capable of moving towards a different political reality. Today and everyday lets re-affirm our solidarity with all Palestinians in historic Palestine and their right to self-determination' with Palestinian political prisoners (women, men and children) in Apartheid Israel's jails, and with the millions of refugees struggling to make their legally guaranteed right of Return a reality.
This Wednesday November 29, groups around the world will hold actions in solidarity with the Palestinian people, Now, more than ever, we should be standing in solidarity and allyship with the Palestinian community to support them in their enduring fight for freedom and justice.
In Britain, the Palestinian Youth Movement and the Youth Front for Palestine are organizing shut downs of Fisher German offices across the country. Fisher German is the landlord for the Shenstone and UAV Engines’ factory site, which they rent to Elbit Systems, an Israel-based weapons company which is supplying weapons for the genocide in Gaza. “The weapons manufactured on Fisher German’s premises are the very same weapons being used to carry out the zionist genocide against our siblings in Gaza,” state the organizers.https://www.instagram.com/p/C0LhUfzgF7f/
We must \also urgently advocate for the extended pause in the conflict in Gaza to evolve into a sustained ceasefire, a crucial step towards a just and lasting solution to the conflict. The four-day long humanitarian pause, extended for two days just hours before hostilities were due to resume, has seen more than 60 hostages freed who were taken to Gaza after Hamas’ 7 October attack, and more than 150 Palestinian prisoners freed from detention in Israel. The pause is set to expire tomorrow, amid reports of mediators negotiating a further extension. Now, among widespread fears for the people of Gaza that this pause will only be brief, a sustained humanitarian ceasefire is the only option to end bloodshed.
In drawing attention to the struggle of the Palestinian people we cannot but remember the firm stand that the United Nations took against racism, against the evil of Apartheid and supported the liberation struggle of the people of South Africa.
At the time his people were liberated, the celebrated leader of the liberation struggle for South Africa Nelson Mandela made a profound statement, which resonates around the world to this day. He said: “For many years the United Nations stood firm against racism. Because of that a worldwide consensus was built against this unfair system. We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”
Today on International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People wherever you are in the world you can activate your solidarity by joining and sharing existing campaigns that can put an end to Israel;s impunity. Apartheid is still a crime against humanity.
The international community must take serious and decisive action to stop the grave Israeli violations against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and the entire occupied Palestinian territory and work on lifting the injustice and suffering of the Palestinian people. From the rivers to the sea, Free Palestine!
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