APAN statement on International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People

Nov 29, 2015

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#PalestineDay:

APAN recognises the UN International Day
of Solidarity with the Palestinian People

29 November 2015

On the 2015 #PalestineDay, 29 November, the annual International Day of Solidarity, the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) reaffirms its commitment to advocate for peace and justice in Palestine and Israel based on United Nations resolutions and international law.

‘The Palestinian people deserve nothing less than their rights as guaranteed under international law,’ said Bishop George Browning, APAN President. ‘The Palestinian people have an equal right to self-determination and freedom, like all other peoples in the world.’

Today, some 4.5 million Palestinians remain under illegal Israeli occupation in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.  Some 1.7 million Palestinian men, women and children in the Gaza Strip remain under a crippling, inhumane social and economic blockade since 2007. Over 5.5 million Palestinians remain refugees, away from their homes, scattered throughout occupied Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and around the world.

United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, noted in his #PalestineDay message that the ‘Palestinians feel deep frustration over an occupation that has lasted nearly 50 years… What they feel instead is a lack of hope that their lives will change for the better.’

APAN has similar fears.  ‘Unable to see a future beyond the next checkpoint, or outside the suffocating confines of the refugee camp, Palestinian youth are fast losing hope of seeing any positive change in their future,’ said Bishop Browning.

Being a good global citizen requires empathy, responsibility and respect. The empathy to understand injustice, the responsibility to act to correct injustice, and the respect to heed our obligations under the UN Charter and international legal instruments.

On this 2015 #PalestineDay, the Australian Government has failed the test of being a good global citizen for the Palestinian people by voting against a ‘peaceful settlement of the Question of Palestine’ at the United Nations last Tuesday 24 November.

Despite this decision by the Government, APAN will continue its work in Australia in support of a ‘peaceful settlement’ for occupied Palestine.  APAN will continue to hope for a peace with justice for the Palestinian people.  APAN sends its ongoing solidarity to the Palestinian people on this, their International Day of Solidarity.