Since 1977, on or around 29 November every year, the United Nations has commemorated the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
The date was chosen because of its significance for the Palestinian people. On this day in 1947, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 181, later known as the “Partition Resolution”, which provided for the creation of a “Jewish State” and an “Arab State” in Palestine, with Jerusalem as the corpus separatum subject to a special international regime. Of the two states envisaged in that resolution, only one has so far been created: Israel.
The current situation of the Palestinian people is a disgrace to the international community. Occupation, apartheid and the lack of solutions to their situation only benefit the extremism in the area, which perpetuates the current situation, which involves the slow-motion annihilation of Palestinian rights. Israel practices a policy of fait accompli, with the criminal indifference of the international community, if not outright cooperation.
This Day provides an opportunity for the international community to focus attention on the fact that the question of Palestine is still unresolved.
In 1975, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People was established with a mandate to advise the Assembly on programmes aimed at the exercise of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including self-determination without external interference, national independence and sovereignty, and the return to their homes and properties from which they were evicted.
The Committee’s mandate is also to “offer its cooperation and support to Palestinian and other civil society organisations”. In line with this mandate, a network of more than 1000 civil society organisations from all regions of the world active on the Palestinian question has been established over the years.
