BRUSSELS, September 12, 2011 (WAFA) - AVAAZ organization raised on Monday a gigantic Palestinian flag in front of the commission building and European Union (EU) council, in the Belgium capital, Brussels, in support of the Palestinian people’s right to an independent sovereign state.
The Palestinian flag, which measured 20 meters long and 15 meters wide, was raised using 27 engines, each engine carrying the flag of an EU member state.
The ceremony, which was covered by local and international agencies, was attended by Palestinian representative to the EU, Leila Shahid, Deputy Head of mission, Hadi Shibli and In charge of Euro-Mid file,
Majed Bamieh pressed the key which raised the highest Palestinian flag in the EU’s sky.
Shibli and Bamieh said, “What we witnessed today is an extraordinary event, which proves the amount of EU people’s support of the Palestinian leadership going to the United Nations (UN), to seek full-membership and recognition of an independent Palestinian state, within the 1967 borders.”
AVAAZ executive director, Ricken Patel, said that “the majority of the public opinion in France, Germany and the United Kingdome (UK) express their hope for the establishment of a Palestinian state and pursuing a new path for peace in the Middle East.”
He added, “This gives the world’s leaders two options; either to stand with their people, and another 126 countries people’s will, which support the establishment of a Palestinian state and a new path for peace, or to stand by the US government, which pushes the current situation in the Middle East into further crisis.”
AVAAZ published on Monday an entire page announcement in the ‘Financial times’, calling for an EU stance to vote in favor of the recognition of a Palestinian state.
It set up a poll in Germany and the UK, on the Palestinian state issue, which is intended to be discussed at the UN General Assembly.
Poll results showed that these countries public opinion support the Palestinian right in obtaining UN recognition of their state. They demanded their countries’ governments to vote in favor of UN recognition of a Palestinian state at the general assembly’s session, which will be held next week.
The poll showed that EU people look for a change in the Middle East, at a time when the EU member states will discuss in Brussels their stance, in order to reach a unified EU stance on the issue of UN recognition of a Palestinian state.
It also showed that in Germany, 86% support the establishment of a Palestinian state, while 71% demanded their government to pressure for the recognition of a Palestinian state at the UN. In France, 82% support the establishment of a Palestinian state while 59% demanded their government to put pressure in the UN.
In the UK, 71% support the establishment of a Palestinian state, while 69% demand their government to pressure for the recognition of a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly’s session.
M.G. /F.R.
