Arquivo da categoria: Official Viewpoint

Statement by PLO Executive Committee Member Dr. Saeb Erekat on UN Decision to exclude Israel from the list of countries that commit grave violations against children in armed conflict

We are extremely disappointed by the decision of the UN Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki Moon to exclude Israel from the list of countries that commit grave violations against children in armed conflict. Israel’s belligerent military occupation in Palestine, has shown through the years, a total disregard for the lives and rights of our people, including children.

We don’t have to remind the Secretary General of the reports made by several UN organizations on the matter, just as those made by Palestinian, Israeli and other international human rights organizations thoroughly outlining Israel’s deliberate targeting of civilians, including children. By excluding Tel Aviv from the list, Israel, the occupying power, is now encouraged to continue its ongoing violations against the Palestinian people under occupation and particularly against children.

Israel arrests children as young as 5 years old, subjects them to various forms of psychological and physical torture. Since 2000, more than 8000 children have been arrested by Israeli forces. In 2014, Israel has killed more than 500 minors in its assault on Gaza, accentuating the dire situation of this particularly vulnerable group under a brutal and belligerent occupation.

Only today, occupation forces killed Ezzeddine Bhani Ghara, 20 years old, at the Jenin Refugee Camp in a new Israeli military aggression. Since the beginning of the year 18 Palestinians have been killed by the action of Israel. At the same time 521 Palestinians have been injured and 2107 arrested. Since January 2015 Israeli Forces have conducted 2418 military raids in the occupied State of Palestine and demolished 48 Palestinian homes.

The decision of UN Secretary General is wrong, tasteless and unperceptive. The international community must cease avoiding its responsibilities in holding Israel accountable. Only justice will bring about a just and lasting peace.

DR. SAEB EREKAT MARKING 48 YEARS OF OCCUPATION: “THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT CONTINUES TO DENY PALESTINIAN RIGHTS FOR INDEPENDENCE AND SELF-DETERMINATION”

Over 12 million Palestinians living in the occupied State of Palestine and worldwide are commemorating 67 years of the ongoing Nakba and 48 years of Israel military occupation since 1967.

“The Israeli government, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, is determined to undermine the Palestinian right to live in dignity, and is obstructing our right to self-determination,” said Dr. Saeb Erekat, Member of the Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee.

“We will continue to halt any attempts by Israel to erase and bury Palestinian national identity by prolonging its occupation of our land. The world is accountable for the ongoing crimes committed against our people,” Erekat added.

“While the Palestinian leadership continues to advocate for the two state solution, there are people in Israel that continue to undermine efforts for an effective solution. Those people are the same ones granted impunity by the international community, including the United States and Canada, and I would like to remind those nations of their obligations and responsibilities towards the two state solution. The illegal Israeli settlement enterprise is a clear violation of international law,” Erekat said.

Statement by Head of Palestine Football Association on his Meetings with FIFA and the Israeli Football Association

“If the Israeli Association is concerned about being suspended, they should respect the FIFA Statute and stop being an integral part of the Israeli occupation and its Apartheid policies”

Head of the Palestine Football Association (PFA) Gen. Jibril Rajoub met with Sepp. Blatter in Switzerland earlier today to discuss the latest meeting between FIFA and the Israeli Football Association (IFA) regarding Israeli violations of the FIFA Statute and the ongoing oppression against Palestinian athletes which has been continuously denounced by the PFA. Gen. Rajoub accepted a request from Mr. Blatter to meet the head of the Israeli Football Association after their meeting.

Gen. Rajoub declared the following after his meeting with the IFA:

We accepted to meet with the Israeli Association in appreciation to the efforts made by FIFA Chairman Sepp Blatter for the development of football in Palestine. Unfortunately, the meeting simply reaffirmed that the Israeli Football Association does not want to stop being a tool of the Israeli occupation or to respect the FIFA Statutes. It is clear that the Israeli Football Association is not willing to recognize PFA as a federation with equal rights and obligations, just as they continue to violate their commitments made before FIFA.

We are therefore determined to continue our path to suspend the Israeli Football Association during the next FIFA Congress, this May 29. If the IFA is concerned about being suspended, they should respect the FIFA Statute and stop being an integral part of the Israeli occupation of the State of Palestine and its Apartheid policies.

Statement by PLO Executive Committee Member Dr. Saeb Erekat on the Formation of the new Israeli Government

With the dust beginning to settle on the new Israeli coalition government, the face of a new form of racist, discriminatory Israel has been revealed.  Benjamin Netanyahu vehemently leading the charge to bury the two state solution and impose a perpetual Apartheid regime, Neftali Bennet a new minister boasting the murder of Palestinians, and the new Minister of Justice, Ayelet Shaked, openly calling on the genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.

Congratulations Israel, your new government has ensured that peace is not on their agenda.  This new right-wing, extremist government is not a partner for peace when the leaders call for the annexation of Palestinian land, forcible transfer of the Palestinian population, and the genocide against our people.  The time is well overdue for the International community to face the reality and hold Israel accountable for the crimes and violations made against our people.

We call on the international community to safeguard the two-State solution by stop treating Israel as a state above the law, support Palestinian rights and diplomatic initiatives including the UN Security Council, to ensure the application of the Fourth Geneva Convention in the Occupied State of Palestine, to support our efforts in the International Criminal Court and to recognize the State of Palestine.

It’s Time for Palestine

Mahmoud Abbas
 President of Palestine

THE Palestinian people’s struggle for freedom and national independence has reached a decisive moment. The two-state formula is under serious threat, due to systematic Israeli policies and practices that have seriously undermined the solution-threatening to make it impracticable in the very near future. More alarmingly, while Palestine takes concrete and determined steps to demonstrate its commitment to international law and human rights by acceding to the main instruments of international law, Israel has taken concrete steps to undermine them, whilst openly and unambiguously declaring its hostility to Palestinian national rights.

This is happening at the same time that Palestinian refugees are being slaughtered in Syria—victims of an internal conflict to which they have never been party. The images coming out from the Al Yarmouk Refugee Camp as well as from other Palestinian camps in Syria are reminiscent of Lebanon in 1982 and Iraq in 2003. They are a reminder of the urgency to honor the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including Palestinian refugee rights. Over 200 Palestinian children dying out of starvation during the camp’s siege is a crude reminder of the total failure of the international community to protect civilians in time of war.

It is time to put an end to the Palestinian tragedy by ensuring the rights of Palestinians under international law.

Full Article:

Op Ed H.E President Abbas

Source: http://www.cirsd.org/publications/magazines_article_view_short/english/66