Press Release: International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People
Press Release:
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE
The United Nations International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People is observed annually on the anniversary of the General Assembly’s formal endorsement of the 1947 Partition Resolution (181), which sanctioned the division of British Mandatory Palestine into two sovereign states: Israel and Palestine. To this day, only one state has been established at the expense of the Palestinian people, who are still being denied their fundamental rights and the independent, sovereign state that was promised to them.
This occasion is an opportunity to acknowledge that, for 76 years, Israel has been attempting to expel the Palestinian people from their homeland and wipe Palestine off of the map. On this day, the international community is reminded of its responsibility to enforce the implementation of the two-state solution and recognise the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and the establishment of an independent and sovereign State of Palestine on 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Reaffirming global solidarity and support for the Palestinian people has never been more vitally important than it is at this current moment. Since 7 October, Israel’s brutal military aggression against the Gaza Strip has killed more than 15,000 Palestinians, including 6,150 children and 4,000 women. An estimated 1.8 million civilians in Gaza have been internally displaced, the majority of whom were already refugees, and a further 1,200 have been forcibly displaced in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in the same time period. With all eyes on Gaza, Israeli occupying forces and extremist settlers have killed more than 230 Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since 7 October. Over 3,000 Palestinians, including children, have been arrested and detained in less than two months.
As we stand at this critical juncture, still waiting for our independent homeland to emerge, the General Delegation of Palestine to Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific calls on the international community, including Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, to support calls for an immediate, complete and permanent ceasefire, to halt the forcible transfer of the Palestinian people, and to support sustained, unimpeded, sufficient provision of humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people in Gaza.
As reaffirmed by the Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations before the General Assembly just yesterday, in this context: “Justice in Palestine would mean that freedom, peaceful settlement and coexistence have triumphed over oppression and discrimination. Justice in Palestine means we have upheld the principle that we are equal as human beings and as nations. Let us continue to work together to achieve that justice, and to achieve the peace and security that the Palestinian and Israeli peoples, our region, and the world needs.”
For more information, please contact the General Delegation of Palestine to Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific.