Document Actions
To mark the Palestinian tragedy
Global Action: On January 26, Solidarity for Palestine will be among the actions programmed by the WSF organization. May 15 will be a global action day to remember the Nakba (catastrophe) and the ongoing dispossession of Palestinian rights
On 29 November 1947 the United Nations recommended the partition of Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state despite the fact that the UN itself had found that such a step “may well run counter” to the principle of self-determination. The UN Partition Plan (UNGAR 181) was never fully implemented. However, it set the stage for the 1948 war in which Israel was unilaterally established as a Jewish state by ethnically cleansing over three-quarters of the Palestinian people, confiscating their lands and barring them from return; this war is remembered by Palestinians as the Nakba (catastrophe). Since then, Israeli policies and practices remain in violation of international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention and the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid.
In 1974 the United Nations affirmed (UNGAR 3236) that Palestinians as a nation hold a set of inalienable rights: the right to self-determination without external interference; the right to national independence and sovereignty; and the right of Palestinians to return to the homes and properties from which they have been displaced and uprooted. In 1977, the United Nations declared 29 November as the Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
Today, the State of Israel claims legitimacy based on the 1947 UN Partition Plan although it continues to violate international law and has failed to respect key UN requirements regarding borders, return of refugees, and protection of minority rights. Israel’s military expulsions destroyed Palestine’s pre-1948 Arab society.
Today Israel continues to deny refugees’ right to return, and to discriminate against its Palestinian citizens. Israel effectively controls the entirety of historic Palestine. 40 years into Israel’s military occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory and almost 60 years into the Palestinian Nakba of 1948, we reaffirm the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people. We reiterate Palestinian and global civil society’s 2005 calls to pressure Israel’s apartheid regime through a campaign of boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) until these rights are achieved.
We commit ourselves, to make 2008 a year of raising awareness of the Palestinian Nakba and support of Palestinian refugees’ right of return. We will join Palestinian communities inside Israel, in exile and the Occupied Palestinian Territory in mobilizing for a year of educational and campaigning work beginning on November 29, 2007.
January 26, 2008 Solidarity for Palestine will be among the actions programmed by the WSF organization.
May 15, 2008 will be a day of global mobilization to commemorate the Nakba, and the continuing dispossession and denial of Palestinian rights.
60 Years of Displacement & Dispossession is Too Much
We Call for Full Realization of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People
