GICJ Reports

International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People

29 November 2016

“You can't have occupation and human rights”

A 68 Year-Long Struggle

Since 1977, when the General Assembly adopted resolution 32/40 B  on the “Question of Palestine”, the 29 November was established as the international day of solidarity with the Palestinian people. On this day, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People arranges a special meeting at the UN Headquarters in New York where the President of the Security Council, the President of General Assembly, and representatives of relevant UN bodies express solidarity with the Palestinian issue. Moreover, messages of solidarity are delivered by governments and civil society, films on Palestine are screened, and exhibitions and cultural events are organized. 

The aim of the observance of this day is to remind the world that the issue of Palestine is still unsolved, the Palestinian people are still suffering, and their basic rights remains denied. In particular, we talk about the rights that should be guaranteed to them by the UN different resolutions such as the right to self-determination (res.3236/1974), the right to return (res.194/1948), and the right of an independent state without interference and with defined borders in which Palestinians will live in dignity, out of fear or threat (res.242/1967).

This day was chosen very carefully, as it marks a turning point in the history of the Palestinian people. It was the day when the General Assembly adopted, back in 1947, resolution 181(II), which called for the partition of the Palestinian land into two states: Jewish and Palestinian. However, while the Jewish state was established, the Palestinian in fact was not, and from that moment its people experienced the worst massacres and exodus in their history.

Geneva International Centre for Justice (GICJ) has a long history of advocacy for the Palestinian cause and, in particular, for the daily violations committed against this population. In this context, it has been working constantly to draw the attention of the relevant UN bodies and the international community towards these violations as well as towards the perpetual refusal of Israel to comply with UN resolutions. The shocking lack of accountability for the crimes committed in Palestine is what has allowed and will allow their perpetration throughout the decades, unless urgent and definitive action is taken. Today, GICJ wants, therefore, to take this chance by joining the observance of this important anniversary, to show its deep solidarity with the Palestinian people, to remember the appalling human rights violations they were subjected to for more than 68 years and to call for the ultimate halt of Israeli illegal apartheid regime over this strained, yet always hopeful, land.