RAMALLAH, November 29, 2011 (WAFA) – Marking 64 years since the United Nations partitioned Palestine, the PLO Tuesday called for efforts to achieve Palestinian independence, according to a press release.

PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi said, “For 64 years, the Palestinian people have been subjected to an apartheid-like regime and prevented from proclaiming their rights to person and property.”

She said that “Israel continues to rapidly build illegal settlements in violation of international and humanitarian law, creating facts on the ground devised to deliberately destroy the likelihood of a two-state solution.”

On this day in 1947 the United Nations General Assembly passed UN Resolution 181 calling for the division of Palestine; 55% of the land was allotted to the Jewish minority at the expense of the Palestinian majority. The UN later declared November 29 a day of solidarity with the Palestinian people.

“Even in the face of this grave historical injustice, the Palestinians continue to rise up to preserve their identity and presence on Palestinian land,” said Ashrawi, who is also a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council.

She said, “In honor of International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people, we call on all UN member-states and members of the international community to not only acknowledge Israel’s systematic violations of our human rights and international law, but to hold Israel accountable for its illegal policies and practices perpetuated against the Palestinians. Israel is conspicuously preventing the Palestinian people from maintaining control over their population, resources, and territory,”

Ashrawi added that “today’s occasion exemplifies the vital importance for the Quartet and the international community to act in solidarity with the Palestinians and support our peaceful diplomatic efforts to achieve an independent Palestinian state based on 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

She said that “Israel’s failure to adhere to UN Resolutions 181 and 194 (on right of return for refugees), which represent the basis of any solution in the future, is obstructing the prospects for peace and the possibility of sustaining stability in the region and beyond. A free and sovereign Palestine is long overdue and the suffering of the Palestinian people must come to an end.”

Meanwhile, Palestinians in Gaza marched and held a sit-in in front of the UN headquarters in Gaza City marking the international day of solidarity with the Palestinian people.

T.R./M.S.