RAMALLAH, Thursday, November 29, 2018 (WAFA) - On the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people, Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah called on Thursday on the United Nations to recognize Palestine as full-member state and endorse President Mahmoud Abbas’ peace initiative.
“On the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the friends and supporters of the State of Palestine, the United Nations, and the free citizens of this world for the endless support they provide to the Palestine citizens and their inalienable rights,” said the Prime Minister in a statement.
“This important Day of Solidarity, which was adopted by the General Assembly in 1977 and has been observed since then, is an opportunity to remind the international community of the importance of unifying efforts towards ending the long-lasting historical injustices of the Palestinian people, and ensuring their fundamental rights and legitimate aspirations for independence and sovereignty.”
Hamdallah added; “The world still recalls the historic day of 29 November 2012, when the General Assembly welcomed Palestine as a Non-Member Observer State upon resolution 67/19. However, this recognition is not enough to correct the continuous historic denial of the Palestinian rights nor to fulfill the obligations of the international community and the United Nations towards ending the longest running occupation in modern history.
“The world has seen the injustice practiced against the successive generations of Palestine, who awaited the return to their land and a dignified life. Today, the world witnesses the daily Israeli violations, supported by the Trump administration, to undermine the two-state solution, contravene the international law and the UN resolutions, especially the recent Security Council Resolution No.2334 paving the way for more colonial settlement expansions on the expense of the defenseless Palestinian citizens, the indigenous inhabitants of the land, who suffer from home demolitions, land confiscation, forcible displacement, and transfer. The modern world also observes the Israeli-US attempts to liquidate UN resolution 194 on the Palestinian refugees, shutter UNRWA, and the Trump unilateral recognition of the illegal Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem. Moreover, the world is a witness on the shame fingerprint appears clearly in the forehead of Israel, the Occupying Power, which continues its 12 years of illegal blockade on the Gaza Strip.”
He went on to say: “The Palestinian nation deserves a bit more than an annual symbolic message of solidarity and condemnations. Henceforth, we affirm that the United Nations Organization holds the permanent responsibility to end the Palestinian suffering in a satisfactory manner in accordance with the international law and the two-state solution. Therefore, it‘s the time for the United Nations and its institutions to prove its true solidarity by recognizing the State of Palestine as a full-member state on the borders of 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital, equally to its recognition of the State of Israel in 1948.
“In conclusion, let us all resolutely pledge to work together towards welcoming a positive future that can restore hopes of the Palestinian nation by adopting the initiative of President Mahmoud Abbas to hold an international peace conference upon a multilateral international mechanism that solves all permanent status issues through negotiations, according to international law and UN resolutions preserving the Palestinian rights. I, hereby, declare that we are ready to welcome any concrete and sound steps in the direction of hopes to peace.”
M.K.
