UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People
On Monday, 2 December, the United Nations Information Centre for Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific, in partnership with the General Delegation of Palestine to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific (GDOP), the Federal Parliamentary Friends of Palestine (PFP) and the Council of Arab Ambassadors in Australia (CAA), hosted a reception at Australian Parliament House to observe the UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. Marking the day on which the partition resolution (181) was passed in the UN General Assembly in 1947, it is an occasion to acknowledge the dispossession and injustice that were triggered by that resolution, and that continue to this day. Importantly, it is an opportunity for the international community to show its support for an oppressed but unbroken people.
Among the attendees were federal MPs and senators, members of the international diplomatic corps, representatives of local and national advocacy groups, academics and Palestinian community members. Speakers included: co-chairs of the PFP, Ms Maria Vamvakinou MP and Senator Janet Rice, UNHCR Regional Representative, Ms Louise Aubin, Dean of the CAA, H.E. Dr Ali Kraishan, and Head of the GDOP, H.E. Dr Izzat Abdulhadi. The event also featured a special film on tourism and cultural engagement in Palestine.